The Wutz Up in the Philippines!

Despite discovering that more than 60 percent of this year’s expenditure had been exhausted by the previous administration, all in the first half of 2010, Malacañang refuses to ask for a supplemental budget.

Aquino said that he was unprepared to request a supplementary budget, as it may cause an impact on the country’s credit rating and financial gap.

The BIR and the BOC have been assigned to collect P830 billion and P280 billion, respectively, in hopes of keeping the budget deficit to a maximum of P300 billion.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said in a phone interview that spending was pushed since the Budget department under the preceding administration released the complete allotment for salaries for 2010 all at once.

President Aquino said that a lot of unnecessary expenses had been made, and that he cannot divulge the details without the proper facts.

“We deserve an explanation”

Arroyo’s former economic adviser has opposed against the imminent increase in toll fees of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX).

Starting June 30, motorists would have to pay P2.70 per kilometer, or roughly 320 percent more than the prevailing 82 centavos, for the P30-kilometer stretch from Alabang, Muntinlupa City to Calamba City in Laguna.

Class 1 vehicles would pay P77 from a previous rate of P22. Class 2 vehicles, composed of light trucks and buses, would pay P155 from the current P43. Class 3 vehicles, or the heavy, multi-wheeler trucks, would pay P167 more, from P65 to P232.

The TRB and SLTC have repeatedly defended the planned increase, owing to the major rehabilitation work finished last year. The portion from Filinvest in Alabang to Calamba in Laguna, which now comprises eight lanes instead of four, was also finished in 2009.

The SLEX rehabilitation, which began in 2006, expanded the 1.2-km Alabang Viaduct and the 27.3-km road from Alabang to Calamba. This is connected with the 7.6-km extension from Calamba to Santo Tomas in Batangas province, linking SLEX with the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road or STAR.

The SLEX and STAR connection brings the covered distance to 118 kilometers, the longest expressway in the country.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Renato Corona can be sanctioned for violating the Constitution if he accepts his appointment as chief justice, according to the Philippine Bar Association (PBA).

Because of this, PBA president and former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo urged Corona to reject the appointment, especially since he, Corona, is “tainted” by his close association with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

“He should reject also because he’s tainted already. He follows what the incumbent President wants. There’s great doubt on his independence and [that he is] out to protect [the] President from suits,” Marcelo said.

Malacañang on Wednesday announced that President Arroyo has chosen Corona to replace Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who will retire on May 17.

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It’s definitely not yet Hologram, it’s just Augmented reality via virtual Presence!”, Jedi Master Yoda might have corrected. C0melec’s official canvassing of votes is still unfinished and yet another heat of “GMA7 vs ABS-CBN bangayan” sparks.  With the new  PCOS technology on counting our votes, you cannot expect the usual flat screen and LED boards behind Mike Enriquez or Ted Failon on delivering the “widest coverage for the 2010 Elections”.  Let us take a closer look of this issue.

What is a Hologram?

According to it’s discoverer, Dennis Gabor, he coined the term hologram from the Greek words holos, meaning “whole,” and gramma, meaning “message”.  For clarity, it is a method of producing a three-dimensional image of an object by recording on a photographic plate or film the pattern of interference formed by a split laser beam and then illuminating the pattern either with a laser or with ordinary light.(TheFreeDictionary.com)

GMA’s Hologram

Mike Enriquez claims that GMA-News’  “Hologram” technology  is the very first in our country. The same thing used by CNN for the 2008 US Presidential Elections coverage.  In his unique and confident voice, he explained that their “new” technology allows field reporters to appear on 3D images as if they were in the studio itself.  You can clearly see that Mike Enriquez is pretending that Howie Severino, GMANEWS.TV Editor In Chief (EIC),  from cyberspace is right in front of him.  Perhaps, calling it  “hologram” makes them more advanced than other network.

Abs-CBN’s Virtual presence

Few hours ago, TJ manotoc reports that ABS-CBN’s Digital Graphics provider, Orad Hi-Tec Systems, they used the same technology but the appropriate term is Virtual Presence. They added that GMA’s interview with Sen. Noynoy Aquino using a green room or Chroma set-up can never be considered as a hologram.  “We use appropriate terms for modern-day technology”, they might have joked.

Over-all, it was just a mis-use of a technical word. They can just call it Starwars effect.
Throughout the election coverage, we have seen the Touch screen monitors, 3D animation technology, Virtual Presence an a lot more. Indeed, using as much imagery is the “in-thing” for TV networks today. Let us just hope that the content of the news we consume are not just high-end but credible and un-biased. Let us remind them that we watch the 3D Movies to be entertained and the News to be informed.

Manila Philippines - What do you think are the pros and cons of having an automated election? There are several issues and benefits regarding this automation of election. The question is, are you in favor of this automated election, are you satisfied in what you have paid in a billion pesos? Would you rather consider the short line for manual voting rather than than of long lines because it became a clustered precinct? As of May 11 We have partial results came from the PCOS machine and being announced by chairman melo of COMELEC, or would you choose the manual voting that the output might result in less than a week?

There are things that needs adjustments at first just like the PCOS machine, because things that are first tested are not guaranteed a 100% full accuracy sometimes it has bugs and other errors which are very usual to machines, but the thing is that the Smartmatic should put IT professionals or Technician who knows well of the PCOS machine and the Smartmatic should test the machine first before they distribute and if lack of time is the reason for this bugs in the PCOS machine, the thing that the Smartmatic should do is to hire more people in their company even for a month only just ti verify that the smartmatic is working great and reliable in counting of votes. The more people that works on the smartmatic the more productive or the more reliable the PCOS machine will be. The smartmatic should also foresee some of the risk that might happen when using the machine so that the technician will know what are the things that he needs to do to be able to fix it as soon as the election starts. Well In the manual voting there are several watchers and teachers that are need to be present just to be able to count the votes that sometimes none of them seem to do their task. The advantage of the PCOS machine is that it makes the counting easily, is makes less people involve in election counting, less effort and many more compared to manual voting that requires opposite of the automated election. A little advice is that before releasing of the machine be sure that it is working and complete in everything that is needed in the election and there should always be a person or technician or IT professionals who knows how to troubleshoot and Be sure to know what are the error and later on fix or enchance the PCOS machine for the next election.

Pia Cayetano

Excited, Pia Cayetano sent a Twitter message on Monday afternoon that she was about to bike to her precinct in Bagumbayan, Taguig to cast her vote. However, her next tweet was one of frustration.

“I was not able to vote! Supporters of our opponents in Taguig started hurling invectives at my brothers and throwing punches at them,” her tweet read.

Cayetano said her brothers Ren and Lino were waiting patiently in line when Dante Tinga’s followers started “harassing” them.

On the other hand, former barangay chairman Francisco Javier, a Tinga follower, filed physical injuries and malicious mischief charges against Senator

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Presidential Spokesperson Gary Olivar

MANILA, Philippines - President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s spokesman assured Thursday that Malacañang will not order the military to intervene in case of a total failure of the automated elections.

“Mangyari man iyon ay there are are available remedies sa Comelec, sa korte at Kongreso. May mga remedies na available (Assuming it happens (total failure of elections), there are available remedies available in the Comelec (Commission on Elections), the courts and in Congress. There are available remedies),” deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar said in an interview over ABS-CBN’s Umagang Kay Ganda.

Olivar said Malacañang is confident that a total failure of elections will not ignite a high level of unrest that “needs military intervention.”

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Iglesia ni Cristo

The new executive minister of the bloc-voting Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), Eduardo Manalo, may have his late father’s conservative views, but with a twist.

Manalo—Ka Eduardo to his flock—pulled a surprise on Wednesday when he endorsed the candidacy of Liberal Party standard bearers Benigno Noynoy Aquino III and Manuel Roxas II.

The announcement came amid expectations by some INC elders and insiders that the sect would pick Nacionalista Party presidential candidate Manuel Villar Jr. Between Aquino and Villar, the latter courted the INC endorsement more avidly.

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Cardinal Rosales

After receiving flak on the matter, Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales blinked and clarified he is not against the use of people power if the elections are thwarted.

At the same time, Rosales said he did not mean to hurt anyone when he branded calls for people power at this time as “crazy,” and that he should have reflected on the matter.

“He was not against People Power, by itself, against dictators and injustices, for which he prayed much during the first EDSA 1986. The interview words he used should have been well reflected on, words he (lately and now) admittedly did not mean (much less to hurt the sensibilities of others),” a statement from Rosales’ office said.

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Relatives of victims of the Nov. 23 Maguindanao massacre are not impressed with (even if they welcome) the turnaround of Justice Secretary Alberto Agra on the murder charges against two members of the Ampatuan clan.

Human rights lawyer Harry Roque Jr. on Thursday said the victims still do not expect justice under the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo rule, and would rather wait for the next administration to pursue the case.

Agra earlier cleared suspended Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan and suspended Mamasapano Mayor Akmad Ampatuan from the case, saying there was no probable cause against them for murder.

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