petron blaze import player ronaldo balkman grabs the neck of teammate arwind santos

this is the worst that we have seen from the PBA or any other basketball game – a PBA player, import balkman in fit of stupidity grabs the neck of his own teammate, arwind santos.

this display of rage and anger is uncalled for in every circumstance. there is no excuse or explanation where we can say this was acceptable and even forgivable. unfortunately the petron blaze coach is saying the import needs to be given a second chance which can mean balkman continues to play in the PBA.

it’s a sad and wrong thing to do. PBA fans should show its displeasure on  balkman by booing him  on the court until petron blaze gets rid of this import.

senator pia cayetano on new UAAP rule on residency : “unconstitutional; unjust and cruel to athletes”

we are posting in full statement by senator pia cayetano:

Dear UAAP Board,

Many athletes, former athletes, and parents of athletes are in an uproar over the recent decision of the UAAP board to require graduating high school students to sit out 2 years if they come from a UAAP high school and go to a different UAAP college.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the 2-year residency requirement for other than to curtail the freedom of the young athlete to choose the college where he wants to study and play?

In the USA, transferring college athletes have a 1-year residency rest before they can play for their new school – only 1 year, and it doesn’t apply to high school students who choose to go to a different college. The 1-year residency rule requires an athlete to sit out one year of competition because transferring student-athletes suffer academically over time. The year-in-residence is meant to help the athlete acclimatize to the new school and adjust academics-wise. [1] So what’s your 2-year rule for?

A student-athlete’s choice of university is influenced not only by athletics, but also by academics, campus life, and personal situation [2], and the 2-year residency encumbers their freedom of choice.

In my humble opinion as an athlete, a parent of both a college and a high school athlete, and a lawyer, the 2-year residency that is currently applied to transferring college students, as well as any residency rule for high school students, deny athletes of their rights to develop their full potential. It goes against the Constitutional mandate to promote sports especially among our youth, and is an unreasonable limit on an athlete’s freedom of choice as well as academic freedom to choose which college to enter into.

Section 19, Article 14, of the 1987 Constitution states that:

“(1) The State shall promote physical education and encourage sports programs, league competitions, and amateur sports, including training for international competitions, to foster self-discipline, teamwork, and excellence for the development of a healthy and alert citizenry.”

Will the new rule help achieve this?

To excel in sports, one needs to be in constant training of both the body and the mind. Do you know what it’s like for an athlete to sit out two seasons? Athletes thrive on competition. That’s what gets us going. That’s what all the hard training is about. Its what makes it all worth while. To make an athlete sit out two seasons? That just kills the dream. Para sa isang atleta, para mo na ring sinabi na wag ka na lang maglaro. Is this what you want to achieve? Seriously?

I am against any kind of residency rule for graduating high school students. For transferring college students, the 1 year residency rule will suffice. Anything more than that is injustice to an athlete.

I will end this letter by citing a provision in our Bill of Rights against cruel and unjust punishment. For an athlete, this 2 year residency rule is cruel and unjust punishment!

source : http://www.mydailyrace.com/?p=2566

 

read : new UAAP rule on residency is unjust, unfair and harms high school athletes

new UAAP rule on residency is unjust, unfair and harms high school athletes

social media was ablaze in the last few days on this new rule of the UAAP on residency:

HIGH school players who will transfer to another UAAP school in college will now have to wait for two years before becoming eligible to play in the league.

The UAAP board on Tuesday approved the recommendation of its amendments committee to increase the residency requirements for transferring high school players from one year to two years.

The new rule, which got the vote of the board during its regular monthly, meeting will take effect immediately and will cover the current batch of graduating high school players in the UAAP.

source : http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/news/blow-to-pingoy-astransferees-required-to-undergo-two-year-residency-under-new-uaap-rule

apparently this rule was invented as a reaction to the recruitment war between the Ateneo and FEU on a star high school player of FEU, a two-time MVP in the high school league.

( read here :   http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/news/blow-to-pingoy-astransferees-required-to-undergo-two-year-residency-under-new-uaap-rule and here http://www.spin.ph/sports/basketball/news/new-residency-rule-wont-stop-pingoys-switch-to-ateneo-insists-dad)

we think the new rule is all wrong :

• this new rule benefits only the UAAP schools, not anyone else, not the high school athletes and not the league. and the benefit to the schools is just temporary, all it does is delay the playing time and does not totally protect the schools from losing their top high school players to other schools. the obvious intent of the new rule is to prevent or strongly discourage high school athletes from moving to another school for college.  it’s a selfish, misguided rule just for the benefit of the schools.
• it does the most harm to the high school athletes as they are unjustly deprived of playing the sport they love and have labored for for another year. the one year residency to begin with is wrong and extending it for another year makes it doubly wrong.  these high school athletes have been competing, honing and practicing their skills throughout high school and to many it started during their grade school days, this rule puts a two-year stop to that regimen, to that success formula. any athlete know that sustained and continued playing time, specially in competition play and training are key to sports greatness. all athletes know – you stop competitive playing and you don’t improve and to some lose some of your skills while others who continue progress more.
• putting in place rules that have the effect of barring or impeding a high school student from pursuing his college education in the school of his choice is wrong and immoral, specially if this is being done just to protect the school’s college sports program.  the fact is schools have differing quality of education, the same as having differing quality of sports programs. high school students, including athletes choose the best that they can have (and afford). putting in barriers for the students to choose the best or better education and sports program is wrong for the schools to do so.
• it does not make sense that the league is stopping high school students from pursuing greater things for their education and the sport they love.
• the new rule does not make the UAAP league any better nor does it do anything positive to sports, all it does is give the schools some kind of fake psychological benefit.
• the new rule is definitely discriminatory against universities who do not have coed high schools like la salle and ateneo. this will mean their women recruits for the women sports in the UAAP sill need to wait it out for two years. not having female students in their high schools automatically mean they will need to recruit from high school girls.

there is something very wrong with UAAP schools looking for ways to improve their chances at winning games in the league not by improving their sports programs but by imposing rules that discriminate other schools and do nothing but harm high school athletes.

winning UAAP games is best done by winning in the courts during games, not in meeting rooms by creating unfair, discriminatory, harmful and selfish self serving rules. this new UAAP rule does not help the league in any way, all it does is hurt the future and dreams of high school athletes.

read more here : Twitter ablaze as #NewUAAPRule stuns UAAP fans http://www.rappler.com/sports/23150-twitter-ablaze-as-newuaaprule-stuns-uaap-fans

Willie Revillame rants on live tv (again!) – against Ate Guy and Ethel Booba

this latest live TV rant of willie revillame is about what happened backstage between him, ethel bubba and ate guy. the ladies apparently complained to willie about something that happened on TV.

willie felt so livid about the encounter that he felt compelled to disrupt the live show to go on air and tell everyone in the studio and the millions watching on TV what happened backstage.

you could see this was an un-scripted interruption by williem the producer and star of the show.

looks at the girls who were on camera at the start – this lady in a yellow skirt was in mid sentence when she saw revillame approach with a microphone. her facial expression was priceless, then she slowly hides behind the another co-host on stage before leaving it completely.

then the lady in a red dress started to walk off the stage too, with her head bowed down. the kembot girl on willie’s left tried her best to stay put but eventually felt so uncomfortable that she also leaves.

willie’s live rant was obviously unplanned and spur of the moment. the show did not even bother to let the sequence end and cut to a rant segment. the director and floor director must have been so surprised too that they forgot to do their jobs and ask everyone on stage to leave.

looks like this latest rant is just one more thing that happens in a day in the life of willie revillame and the tv shows he appears in.

playboy model goes commando, flashes serbian prime minister in fake interview

this is apparently a true story. a few things:

• did the group have press credentials that THE PRIME MINISTER accepted the interview and even went to the studio of the prankster?
• if you see an interviewer dressed like that, micro mini skirt with a very deep neckline, wouldn’t you suspect something is wrong?
• the prime minister’s staff did not go to the place ahead of time to check out the place?
• the prime minister’s staff did not check before hand who will be interviewing their boss? and if they did, they would have been given a name unknown to them, they did not suspect anything?
• for sure this embarrassing  event will result to the media and security staff of the prime minister will be fired from their jobs

this is a gross disrespect to the highest government position of serbia, the perpetrators should be prosecuted.

 

Serbia PM orders inquiry into “Basic Instinct” fake TV interview

(Reuters) – Serbia’s prime minister, who was flashed by a model without underwear masquerading as a television interviewer, has launched an investigation into how he became the target of the prank, an aide said on Thursday.

The video of Ivica Dacic being interviewed by a brunette former model from Croatian Playboy, who uncrosses her legs in a scene reminiscent of actress Sharon Stone in the film “Basic Instinct”, has been viewed 2.7 million times on YouTube.

“The whole case will be fully investigated,” Dacic’s national security adviser, Ivica Toncev, was quoted as telling the Serbian daily Blic.

source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/31/us-serbia-pm-prank-idUSBRE90U15520130131

 

 

 

Ricky Lo interview of Anne Hathaway fail – Juan Tamad Goes To Hollywood

“transcript” from : http://technogra.ph/2013/01/18/ricky-lo-interview-with-anne-hathaway-makes-the-philippine-internet-cringe/. we have removed most of the editorials in this “transcript”, changes are mine.

0:10 – Exchange of pleasantries.
0:17 – Lo: “You lose the 25 pounds for Fantine? And how did you do it and how did you get it back?”
0:22 – Hathaway: “I’d rather not talk about weight loss please”.

0:38 – Lo glances at his phone.
0:50 – After being asked about her preparations for the movie, Hathaway talks about internalizing the “emotional toll” of “being a sex slave”, as part of what she did to “craft the character” of Fantine.
1:15 – Lo: “I have a friend from the Philippines, her name is Lea Salonga.”
1:24 – Lo hands his phone over to show Lea Salonga’s message for Anne Hathaway.
1:31 – After briefly glancing at the phone, Hathaway hands it back to Lo. “Oh I have to meet her too!” Lo: “…and she said she could hardly wait to see the movie.”
1:37 – Lo: “Yes, you really [I think he meant recently, but the syllables just slid through] said in a Vogue interview that you could never have compared with Lea and your mom was who played Fantine, Kate McCauley. Why’d you say that?”
1:48 – Before we get an answer, Lo interrupts with more praise: “But true, you were terrific in the movie”
1:51 – After another gracious “thank you”.  “I think if you think as an actor who sings, rather than a singer, I would be probably be more impressive. But Lea has one of the great voices of our time. Now I don’t think there’s vocally anything that she can’t do. And she’s made a career as a singer so I have complete deference to her. And of course, my mother has a very very beautiful voice as well.”
2:20 – Lo: “You were there in the Emmy’s and saw your mom playing Fantine. What were your memories about having seen your mom on stage?”
2:26 – Hathaway: “I was very moved. I cried. It was very meaningful for me.”
2:34 – Lo: “Did you get any pointers from your mom?”
2:35 – Hathaway : “No”.
2:38 – Lo: “And for somebody who perceived to have lived a life of luxury and privelege, how were you able to identify Fantine?”
2:50 – Lo: “Have you ever experienced to be hungry? To poor, and you know, just like the character.”
2:54 – Hathaway: “That’s a very personal question.”
2:55 – Lo : “What’s your favorite scene in the movie and the hardest to do?”
3:00 – “I think my favorite scene in the movie was when I got to come back as angel. That was with Hugh [Jackman]. Because I got to feel nice!”
3:11 – In the middle of her answer, Lo drops his phone. This prompts a kind “Oh, be careful” from Hathaway. Lo mutters “phone” while picking up his gadget.
3:13 – “The hardest scene was I dreamed a dream.” Lo: “Oh I dreamed a dream, yes yes yes yes…”
3:19 – Lo: “They’re saying that you’re a shoo-in for the Oscars next year. How do you feel about it? At this early?”
3:27 – Hathaway: “It is early, I feel like it’s early. I feel like it would be extraordinary if that were to happen but I’m not counting on anything.”
3:34 – “What about any other musical you like to do, maybe on stage or in a movie?”
3:37 – Hathaway:  “Many…many.”
3:40 – Lo: “Would you like to say any message for Lea, who’s looking forward to watching the movie and to meeting you in person?”
3:47 – Hathaway: “Well, we’ve already talked about Lea.”
3:50 – Lo: “And what about inviting fans from the Philippines to watch the movie, showing January?”
3:55 – Hathaway : “Well why don’t you invite them? I think they’d much rather hear it from you.”
3:58 – “Ah ok then!” from Lo. 4:00 – They exchange thank yous.

this interview of prominent showbiz writer ricky lo was ablaze on pinoy social media today with many describing how they felt as they watched the video as they were “cringing”. the youtube video was eventually taken down by Philippine Star, the newspaper where ricky law publishes his column. they probably took it down as it was getting a lot of negative feedback.

we agree with the many comments in pinoy social media that the interview was cringe worthy. we did not actually cringe while we watched the interview but we were throwing our head from side to side from the very first answer lo got from his first question to hathaway. the interview started to fail from the very first question and it went downhill from there. yes, there was hill after that first question.

in between the head shaking this is what we thought of the interview:

• ricky lo did the typical interview done by pinoy showbiz journalists in the philippines – very personal and familiar questions rather than about the subject’s artistry, craft and the movie. we see these often in showbiz chismis (rumors) chows and clips in news programs in the philippines – questions about the latest break-ups with the subject’s significant other, or about the latest quarrel with another showbiz personality and the latest pregnancy or non pregnancy of the subject. in the philippines, it looks like the latest blockbuster movie is determined by how big the latest scandal has affected its stars than acting, artistry or cinema.
• ricky lo forgot that he was in fact in Hollywood and not in quiapo manila interviewing the latest star who was given a movie role after winning some reality tv show. in hollywood, movie stars talk about their acting and their craft to promote a movie, not the latest abortion or non abortion of the star.
• we thought ricky lo definitely showed skill sets way below what is needed to interview a hollywood star. it was very much like juan tamad goes to hollywood. or maybe lo did not prepare enough for the interview, still juan tamad.
• hathaway’s answer to his first question should have actually told ricky lo that his intended line of questioning on hathaway will fail. unfortunately, lo did not see that and continued on his line of questioning.
• bringing up lea salonga into the interview puzzled us. what was the point of this one? lo saying lea is a “friend” we thought indicated he was dropping the name of the tony award winner. hathway obliged him but bringing up lea again was just too much.
• the interview was about hathaway and her role at les miserables, not about lea. a comparison of lea and hathaway will not bring the interview anywhere,  it does not even make sense  considering lea appeared in a broadway play while hathaway in a movie. the point of the broadway play was the music and the story while the point of the movie was the emotion and the story. it was a comparison doomed to fail. we all know comparing a movie to a book is a bad idea, comparing a movie to a play is equally bad. worst, comparing two performers. the media are just so different from each other. 
• more importantly, if lo wanted to make a comparison, it would have been best he did it on his own when he writes the article to be published in the newspaper, not during the interview with hathaway. bringing up lea was not only out of topic and unnecessary, it could be insulting to the subject. 
• lo’s last two questions are the perfect bookmarks to this “juan tamad goes to hollywood”  interview – to ask the star to greet someone and invite the audience to watch the movie is what is being normally done in pinoy showbiz interviews of stars done on philippine tv. lo asked hathaway to greet lea salonga and ask the philippine movie goers to watch her movie. to both questions, hathway gave shut down answers, even “taray” answers. we don’t blame hathaway for this, we blame it on lo all the way. that may be SOP in the philippines but very much unheard of in the US.
• based on this interview, we think ricky lo should just stick to writing showbiz articles and stop doing filmed interviews. lo is better read in newspaper columns than seen and heard in youtube and tv. to that point, philippine star was right in putting down the video at youtube, that will spare us from viewing it.
• another reason why ricky lo is better read than seen and heard – it was absolutely awkward and clumsy that lo actually dropped his cellphone during the interview and the star he was interviewing, hathaway noticed it. (hathaway: “be careful”.)

Real Leaf Frutcy Apple Green Iced Tea – schocking new product launch that is more like an ampalaya juice drink

it was an interesting packaging and i was thirsty and this was the only drink available at the store. it was the first time that i saw this brand and i thought i should get an apple drink variant. i thought choosing the apple variant was the safest bet, how can you go wrong with an apple flavor?

well, i was wrong. this one tasted bad.

the drink i bought was Real Leaf Frutcy, an apple green iced tea. okay, fine the brand name “frutcy” was trying too much to be cutie, but it had an interesting packaging – the green frosted plastic bottle was unique and it had a wide ribbed body that felt good on the grip.

it was cold when i bought it. being thirsty, i thought a cold apple drink will be great. but i was disappointed – the drink had a bitter after taste. the bitter after taste was so strong that it felt like i drank some kind of ampalaya juice drink. to make things worst, the ampalaya bitter taste stayed in my mouth for a long time, a few hours after i had take the drink. the drink tasted so bad that i was able to drink only 1/3 of the 480 mL drink.

i wondered who made this lousy product, i thought this must have been made by a cheap run of the mill juice drink maker. i was driving when i drank the green tea drink so i was unable to read who made it.

when i hit a stop light, i looked at the label to see who was the manufacturer of the Real Leaf Frutcy drink. i was shocked when i read the label – it was from the Coca Cola Company (Coca Cola Bottlers Philippines Inc.).

first thing that came to my mind – how can coca cola launch such a lousy product into the philippine market?

coca cola is not only the leading drink company in the country but also in the world. it is also one of the best marketing companies in the world. they do everything right and takes pains on doing things right.

coca cola does a lot of consumer research and for sure they must have done not one but a few consumer researches on this product before they launched it into the market. a product consumer research must have been done to vet the flavor and other things about the product.

how did coca cola miss on this one big time on the bitter ampalaya taste of this product?

for sure this one is the equivalent of a WAWAM on product launches. it’s not a waste of advertising money but a waste of product launch money.

must see Thailand anti-smoking TV ad – one of the best ever

it is said that the simplest ads are the best ads. that certainly applies to this anti-smoking tv ad from thailand.

cinematic and directorial techniques used were simple and direct to the point, very much like the reality tv shows that is the rage on tv. this directorial style lends to the reality of the ad, making us believe these are real people with real problems on smoking.

the story is also a simple one but its delivery to good dramatic effect. it dramatizes very well the dilemma faced by many smokers – they know it’s bad for them but they keep on smoking cigarettes just the same. they know that it is so bad to their health that they will not recommend it to kids.

the irony in the ad is what makes this ad works very well – smokers consume something that they know can kill will not recommend it to kids but does not seem to realize it is actually on the way in  kilingl them. the note the children give to the smokers hits us who see the ad – don’t worry about me, worry about yourself.

it pulls the right strings in our hearts. let’s hope it does the same in the hearts of smokers that they take action for themselves and stop smoking.

corporate greed : telcos with multi billion revenues refuse to refund consumers on overcharging on text

this is the news today – giant telcos Smart and Globe have been overcharging consumers on the text messages they have been sending in the past year to the tune of a total of P1.4B according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI).

philippine consumers have taken to texting as the most often used way to communicate with each other that the philippines has become the texting capital of the world. the PDI article says filipinos send a total of 20M texts a day or 600M texts a month.

the overcharge is a result of the telcos charging consumers P1.00 per text instead of P0.80 as directed by the NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) effective December of last year.

the order to reduce text costs to consumers was a result of a separate directive by the NTC to reduce interconnection charges. interconnection charges were reduced to P0.15 from P0.35 but the telcos did not pass the savings on to consumers.

the whole idea behind the reduction of interconnection charges was to reduce the cost to consumers but telcos instead decided to pocket the savings and fatten their profits.

(read PDI article in full here: Text overcharging bared)

the telc0s in their interviews are saying they will contest the refund in the courts. in other words, they really want to keep the P1.4B for themselves even though these savings were obtained for precisely the reason of reducing charges to consumers.

what will happen to the telcos if they refund consumers? nothing.

for sure, they will not go bankrupt nor will they loose sleep even for a night, not even during siesta if they give the refund. the P1.4B refund is a mere 0.8% of the combined revenues of  Smart and Globe of P166.8B (source: PDI article). the telcos refunding the consumers will hardly affect their bottom line.

while for sure the telcos will not go bankrupt, it will certainly be appreciated by consumers. around 85% of the philippine population belong to the DE socio-eco classes and that means these are the bulk of the customers of globe and smart. in the first place, it is  this high percentage of the poor being their customers which has made texting the most popular service of the telcos. to the poor, even a few peso savings and in this case in texting cost matters a lot.

happier and appreciative consumers will mean increased usage by the consumers. so in the end it will be a no loss and in fact a gain by the telcos. whatever amount they give to consumers for sure will come back to them in increased usage.  except of course when corporate greed strikes.

death defying theft on EDSA Rockwell flyover

we went up to the rockwell flyover on EDSA to take some pictures. we were surprised to see a lone security guard right on top of the flyover. since the the flyover is overlooking some private homes in one of the exclusive subdivisions, i thought the guard was guarding one of the homes there. i found it strange that a security guard will guard the rooftops of homes but i thought it really did not matter as long as you have the money to pay a security guard to do that.

on my second trip to the flyover, i talked to the guard and asked him what he was guarding. i was shocked to learn that he was guarding the cables, wires and christmas lights that were on the flyover railings. he was apparently a guard of the rockwell center and i assume the christmas lights on the railings of the flyover were installed by rockwell.

we asked the guard who are the people who steal the cables, lights and wires. he said it was someone like the man who was walking on EDSA. i looked down and the man was a ‘taong grasa” that we see on the streets. we asked him if a man like that can run fast enough to evade the security guards. he said yes they can ran fast.

he said that the thieves can cut wires and cables as long as 30 feet. what they do is cut the wires then throw them over the flyover and they run down to get them and we suppose sell them some place.

i thought this was a very risky thing to do. these are live wires that the thieves are cutting and they can get electrocuted and die if the wrong wire is cut. the security guard was surprised by what i told him. i advised him that should he see a man being electrocuted while cutting the wires, he should not touch the man as he himself might be electrocuted as well. he was thankful for the tip i gave him.

i guess it’s worth risking your life when you don’t have money to feed yourself. but then rockwell also needs to protect its properties. it’s a tough world out there.

Metro Manila’s Toxic Taxis : DOH says high levels of carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide found in blood of drivers of toxic taxis

we posted previously in this blog, click to read : taxis that run on LPG – metro manila’s toxic taxis?

Toxic taxis: Auto LPG leaks pose health hazards

By David Dizon, ABS-CBN News

Posted at 10/18/2012 7:41 PM | Updated as of 10/18/2012 8:04 PM

Toxic taxis: Study shows hazards of auto LPG leaks

MANILA, Philippines – Carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide in the blood?

That is what the Department of Health (DOH) and the University of the Philippines-National Poison Management and Control Center (UP-NPMCC) found in a study on health hazards due to exposure to auto-liquefied petroleum gas (Auto LPG).

DOH-NCR toxicologist Dr. Alberto Diaz said the UP-NPMCC randomly sampled 26 Metro Manila taxi drivers whose vehicles run on auto LPG and another 13 taxi drivers whose cars run on gasoline and diesel.

He said the study showed that those driving auto LPG-powered taxis that had leaks had higher levels of toxic substances in the blood compared to those who were driving gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles.

“Kung may leak po ang LPG fueled taxi, mas mataas ang lebel na na-a-absorb ng tao na mga toxic gases na na-absorb sa katawan katulad ng carbon monioxide at hydrogen sulfide. Ito ay poisonous gases na pwedeng makasama sa ating kalusugan. Ito ay kung may leak po,” Diaz told radio dzMM.

The toxicologist said the DOH took random samples of gases at the driver’s seats, passenger’s seats and backseats of the auto LPG vehicles and conventional vehicles.

He said they also used a different instrument for the blood tests of all the taxi drivers. “May nakuha kaming lebel ng carbon monoxide at hydrogen sulfide sa tao,” he said.

He said these toxic gases can stay a long time in the bloodstream and affect vital organs such as the heart, lungs and brain.

Diaz said the study showed that among the effects of being exposed to auto-LPG include headaches, back pain, nape pain, chest pain, cough, dizziness, dry throat, fatigue and muscle weakness, nausea and difficulty in breathing.

The toxicologist said LPG leaks can seep inside the taxi undetected, depending on the tolerance level of the driver.

He said the leaks could happen if the vehicle does not undergo regular maintenance checks.

Diaz said the UP-NPMCC study is still in its initial stages and may need to undergo a second round.

He also cautioned taxi passengers to switch taxis if they smell a possible LPG leak inside the vehicle.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/-depth/10/18/12/toxic-taxis-auto-lpg-leaks-pose-health-hazards

baby treated like a toy, shaken violently for amusement. this is child abuse! save this baby!

these photos were all over twitter. this is clearly child abuse and the adults involved must be jailed.

source : http://everythinginbudget.blogspot.sg/2012/10/photos-and-video-of-baby-being-abused.html?m=1

source of picture: http://twitpic.com/b3b9jl

—

these pictures came from this FB account : http://www.facebook.com/jhayarsalaria. in that FB account is a video of the baby also being abused.

screenshot of FB page source of pictures

these still photos by themselves is child abuse with the baby being treated like a lifeless toy with total disregard for the safety of the small baby and complete disrespect for the baby. the baby being sat on, stepped on and choked can lead to unfortunate accidents. just a slip on the sitting on the baby and stepping on the baby pictures can have the full weight of the adult on the fragile chest of the baby.

these are still photos of one incident in time, we do not know what happened before or after this incident and what other incidents that may have been done on this baby and how often this “play” is being done on this baby.

the adult treating the baby like a lifeless toy in many ways defines the way this adult considers the baby. if this adult can do this now to this baby who is obviously totally powerless to stop the adult, what other things can this adult do to this baby in the future (or those times when no pictures are being taken)? this adult does not see this baby as fragile and as a human being, just a toy for his pleasure and amusement.

go to this FB page (http://www.facebook.com/jhayarsalaria) and you will see a video of the baby being shaken violently by an adult. you can see in the face of the baby that the baby was feeling being very uncomfortable and did not like what was being done to the baby.

screenshot of video

at some point the baby started to cry. the adult did not stop but instead hit the baby’s stomach like a drum to distort the sound of the cries of the baby.  the baby cried because the baby probably felt pain and extreme discomfort but instead of stopping and calming the baby down, the adult continues to play with the baby like it was a lifeless toy.

there is no other way to describe these pictures and video but child abuse and cruelty to this baby.

people in twitter has taken action – copying reporters and a congressman about the pictures. authorities from the DSWD and the police have been informed and apparently actions are being done to track this baby and the adults involved. let us hope it is not too late for this baby.

——–

let us hope they get the baby in time.

UAAP 75 finals Ateneo-UST game 2 : if Ateneo wins, referees are in to it, if UST wins, referees are fair

referees favoring Ateneo Blue Eagles in game 1 of the UAAP 75 finals was what made UST lose, that was according to UST growling tigers coach pido jarencio. coach pido also said something about the Ateneo players or was it the Blue Eagles’ coach Norman Black being able to speak good English and by implication UST growling tigers’ being poor at it had played a role in their loss. we did not understand how proficiency in speaking English mattered during the game, we hardly saw the Ateneo and UST players say anything during the game it being basketball and not a debate but that was how coach pido saw it.

no surprise to us since much of what coach pido said didn’t really make sense to us.

we didn’t think the Ateneo Blue Eagles won the game because of the referees or that they spoke better English, it was because coach pido did not adjust his team’s game play on the 3rd quarter of the game. the Ateneo Blue Eagles were down at the end of the 2nd half on account of too many unforced errors, poor defense and generally poor shooting. but the whole complexion of the game changed during he 3rd quarter as the Blue Eagles went on a shooting rampage and clamped the Growling Tigers on defense when it had a fantastic 17-0 ran in that quarter.

we think coach pido was unable to read the change in play employed by the blue eagles in the 3rd quarter both on offense and defense. unable to read the play meant he missed out on changing the play for his own team.

the UST growling tigers concentrated so much defense muscle on greg slaughter, often three players guarding him that other blue eagle players became free to score on the offense. one notable blue eagle was nico salva who shot his career best in that game. salva simply toyed around with the UST defense and took shots from his favorite spots, made his favorite shots plus others.

salva is the kind of player who is very low key – simple shots taken in a very muted way unlike kiefer ravena and greg slaughter. kiefer ravena is an explosive and impressive player. he makes these fantastic shots and fantastic moves that you can’t help but notice he is doing well in a game. slaughter because of his height and position is also as noticeable but in a different way. because slaughter is an imposing center, you will notice it if he is doing well in a game as he will always make his shots look easy under the ring and make you wonder why the defense can’t stop him.

salva just makes the regular jump shot and the occasional lay-up with very little fanfare and muted style. but the difference is that salva is one hell of an efficient player. his almost boring style makes him unnoticed by coaches and other players and coach pido and the growling tigers were no exception in game 1.

salva is the player that just creeps into the game unnoticed mostly. and when he gets into a scoring rhythm, he can carry that throughout the game.

but apparently coach pido did not notice these things. he did not change the game play on defense and continued to pour in effort and manpower on slaughter. slaughter on his part very smartly accepted it but looked for the open man when three UST players were on him.

if coach pido paid attention to the game, he would have realized the defense he put on salva was doing a bad job at it. salva was able to get away from his defense in almost any spot a few feet away from the ring.

coach pido was also obviously unable to find the correct player mix to get their offense going. UST is made up of great shooters but the combination coach pido put in simply didn’t click. the growling tigers tried but they were unsuccessful in putting shots in that they had zero points for a stretch of around 7 to 10 minutes during the 3rd quarter.

having zero points for that long a time may be a function of the defense put up by Ateneo. Ateneo is one of the best defensive teams in the league but we did not see any new plays put up by the Ateneo crew on defense. UST had zero points in that period not because Ateneo had put up a great defense, it was just that the combination of players in the court for UST did not work well. we think the UST players became shell shocked by the juggernaut offense of the Blue Eagles that they lost confidence and found themselves unable to shoot.

so what will happen in game 2? well we think coach pido will once again say after the game that the Ateneans were favored by the referees if UST loses the game tomorrow. it’s a very convenient and easy excuse to make for coach pido. of course if UST wins tomorrow, coach pido will conveniently forget his referees for Ateneo charge and just say his players did it all.

there is something about the blue eagles that we have noticed – they win most of their games due to their 3rd quarter performance. things simply change for the blue eagles on the 3rd quarter. they can be doing badly (as they did in game 1 with UST) in the 1st and 2nd quarters but when they come out of the half huddle, they make the adjustments in their play and recover in the 3rd quarter. the blue eagles are almost always a completely different team when they come out to the court during the 3rd quarter. it’s like a miracle happens in the dugout during the half time break that they discover the secret formula to win the game.

to us, that secret formula is coach norman black. black we think is the best coach in the league. he is to us the Great Adjuster. black is able to see things so well and is brilliant at making the adjustments he needs to make in offense and defense in the 3rd quarter to win the game. the Ateneo Blue Eagles is made up of very good players, both its first five and the bench crews. among his first five, we know ravena, salva and slaughter can win games plus add to that the bench like buenafe, golla and elorde and that makes a potent team.

but having great players is not enough. you need an even greater coach who can analyze games as they evolve and think up of changes in offense and defense plays and get the combination of players that work. many of the teams in the UAAP, like the UST growling tigers, have many great players just like Ateneo but the advantage of the blue eagles is that they have norman black to make it all work well and adjust to win games.

and as we have seen in game 1, coach pido jarencio is no coach norman black.

makes in offense or defense play and player combinations

who is afraid of allan bantiles, the father charged of putting a gun on the head of a CSA high school student?

this was posted by bullyfree Philippines in the comments section on a post in this blog (http://wawam.wordpress.com/2012/09/20/adult-points-gun-at-high-school-boy-inside-his-own-school-in-front-of-teachers/#comment-7089)

personal info of the gun poking dad:
my source told me His name is Alan Bantiles, also known to his friends as “ROY NEGRO”. born and raised in Cebu from a poor family.
His father who disowns him is an African- American soldier.
he is a multi millionaire and often boasts to be a close friend and neighbour of an ex president. Also is a close friend to few influential people
He is not a politician and does not hold any position in the government.
He owns several units/resorts and other properties in manila, visayas and several multi million houses in Sydney, Australia.
His “real” source of income is still unknown although he owns several franchise of restaurants/cosmetic shops which is obviously not generating enough money to support his lifestyle.
He owns several luxury cars.
He never go out without his bodyguards.
Has a criminal record in Australia.
Known to his friends/neighbours and own relatives to be a very violent/ irrational/ paranoid person, if you see him please do not dare to approach him.

someone gave me a picture of him but don’t know where to post it.

we also saw this on twitter:

received this texts  on my cellphone:

• atty nethercott, lawyer of bantiles used to be the chief of staff of dotdot jaworski
• to my question is the picture posted in my blog that of allan bantiles? the answer via text – “yun na nga”

Student files criminal raps vs classmate’s dad in bully issue; accused to lodge countersuit
By Niña Calleja, Kristine Felisse Mangunay

Philippine Daily Inquirer

The 18-year-old student of an exclusive school in Makati City in the center of a bullying controversy Tuesday filed criminal charges against the gun-toting father of one of his classmates.

Jesus Manuel Garcia, a senior high school student of Colegio de San Agustin in Dasmariñas Village, charged Allan Canete Bantiles with attempted murder, slander and slander by deed in the Makati Prosecutor’s Office.

Bantiles has been the subject of the condemnation of people online after a Facebook page on the alleged gun-toting incident was put up on the Internet.

Accompanied by his parents and his grandmother, Garcia filed the complaints together with his narration of the Aug. 30 incident when Bantiles allegedly slapped him, shook his shoulders and pointed a loaded gun at his forehead.

He said Bantiles also threatened to shoot him. The incident happened an hour after Garcia reportedly hit Bantiles’ son Joshua  in the face as a reaction to his and his other classmates’ bullying.

“One hour had passed after (Garcia) hit the boy.  When he (Bantiles) brought his gun with him to the school, there was an intention to hurt somebody,” Garcia’s counsel Allan Tan told the Inquirer.

Garcia included slander and slander by deed in the charges, claiming Bantiles had also called him crazy and slapped him, the lawyer said.

Bantiles and his son said the allegations were “lies.”

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/277508/student-files-criminal-raps-vs-classmates-dad-in-bully-issue-accused-to-lodge-countersuit

1 priest & 4 teachers witnessed the gun pointing bullying at CSA – police report

The gun-pointing incident was allegedly witnessed by several faculty members, identified in a police report as Mrs. Alicante, Ms. Jenny, Father Masana, Mr. Ignacio, and Ms. Cadangan.

The police report also quoted the father as saying: “You shouldn’t go to a school, you’re crazy. You should be in a mental institution…Do you want to fight me?”

http://rp3.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/metro-manila/09/20/12/deped-probing-gun-pointing-incident-inside-makati-school

what did these teachers do when the CSA parent bantilles pulled out a gun and pointed it on the face of high school boy jaime gonzales?

more than that, what were these teachers thinking asking the high school boy to meet with the father of the other high school boy involved in a bullying incident? a confrontation between an adult parent versus a high school boy – what can you expect will happen in a confrontation like that?

we didn’t think it was wise to get the high school boy and the father to meet. the proper thing to do would be to ask the parents of gonzales to meet with bantilles and settle the matter among the adults / parents. that is assuming of course that before the meeting CSA would have processed the whole situation already with appropriate sanctions ready for application to all parties and the high school boys talked to by school counselors.

this confrontation which unfortunately is the worst kind, a life threatened  would not result to anything good. it’s easy to conclude and expect that the father, bantilles will intimidate the boy gonzales. and the resulting “confrontation” will only humiliate and traumatize gonzales. this is a high school boy an experience like that will be hurtful to this young boy.

clearly there are five very wrong things on this whole situation:

1. CSA’s way of handling and resolving bullying needs improvement
2. allowing  the high school student to be confronted by a parent is a huge mistake
3. CSA’s silence on the matter and very delayed reaction  (happened august 30 or 3 weeks ago) is hurting the school, the students involved and the whole CSA community
4. there is no acceptable reason why a high school student should be subjected to a situation where a gun is pointed at his face and threatened with his life being ended by a bullet from a gun
5. unless CSA implements significant changes, CSA parents are right to feel their children are not safe inside the campus

read other posts, click to read:

• colegio san agustin alumni association response to gun bullying – “wait for school’s official statement”
• adult points gun at high school boy inside his own school (CSA) in front of teachers

colegio san agustin alumni association response to gun bullying – “wait for school’s official statement”

note that this is a reaction by the CSA alumni association, not CSA itself yet.

click to view: http://www.facebook.com/CSAMAAOfficialAccount?ref=ts

these are two of the reactions there:

given the gravity of the incident, it being the worst kind of bullying that occurred inside the CSA campus in front of teachers where the life of a high school boy student was put at risk with a bullet from a gun held by a CSA  parent, the responses are underwhelming to say the least.  not only underwhelming but also much delayed.

click to read here :

adult points gun at high school boy inside his own school (CSA) in front of teachers

1 priest & 4 teachers witnessed the gun pointing bullying at CSA – police report

adult points gun at high school boy inside his own school (CSA) in front of teachers

this incident is being talked about in twitter this morning.

we have gathered the following from a source close to the incident:

• the incident  happened 3 weeks ago
• no police report has been filed on the incident (tv patrol showed a police report document)
• the boy at whom a gun was pointed at felt his life was in mortal danger while it was happening. the boy felt he was going to be shot and die in school. that will make you weep. just imagine the kind of trauma this boy must have felt then until now.
• the boy was alone when this happened. it happened during school hours. the boy was apparently called to the principal’s office. the incident happened in front of the admin office. (tv patrol says it happened inside the faculty room)
• it happened with teachers witnessing the whole thing plus the father who pulled the gun and his two body guards
• last year, another kid bullied retaliated by hitting a bully with a hammer in the head
• the father who pulled the gun has been banned from entering the CSA campus
• boy who got bullied with a gun was suspended for 5 days
• the 2 other boys involved in the bullying were also suspended but, get this – for shorter period of time – 2 to 3 days only
• CSA PTA (parents teachers association) is not getting involved here
• my source tells me they needed the interview with korina sanchez to give the case publicity as nothing was happening on the issue
• my source appreciates the tweets on the incident and wishes to thank everyone for the concern and the effort
• please help the family of the boy bullied with a gun in giving this attention – tweet about it, put it on facebook and email to as many people as you can
• please give your comment on this incident. let your thoughts and feelings be heard.

we (#gangsters tweets) have been talking about this incident in twitter since this morning,  these are the reactions to the incident from myself and the others:

• we feel for the boy and parents of the boy. the boy or any student do not need this kind of trauma.
• have always said that the safest places in the world for our children are #1 the home and #2 the school. for this to happen in the school is terrifying and wrong.
• this incident is not just an issue of bullying, this is an issue of a life of boy that could have been taken inside the school by a bullet from a gun from a parent of a classmate.
• how was the father able to bring in guns into the campus? the security guards did not check? are guns allowed in this school?
• why was the boy called to the admin office when the teachers knew the father was going to confront him?
• why wasn’t the parents of the boy at whom the gun was pointed informed of the meeting / confrontation? and why were the parents not present during the meeting / confrontation with bantilles?
• shouldn’t this matter have been handled first among the parents? like the school to ask for a meeting with  both sets of parents first. we did not think any of the students should have been involved in the meeting or confrontation.
• what was the school thinking allowing a confrontation with the father (bantilles) and the boy? what were they intending to achieve? and how is this being fair or productive?
• one can argue the boy was set up to allow the father (bantilles) to bully the boy
• we think this is not just a CSA matter, this is also a police matter. the police needs to get involved and legal action should be take against the adult who pulled a gun at the boy.
• the boy could have been shot to death in this incident. and the loss of a life over a bullying incident in school?  that is senseless and terribly wrong.
• how rampant is bullying at CSA?
• CSA needs to review its policies and procedures on settling issues among students and parents and specifically on bullying. the school needs to study this carefully and draw out a procedure and a strategy on reducing bullying in the school and how to handle or resolve  it.
• bullying is a real problem in all schools. CSA is not the only one and this has been going on for generations in all schools.
• but that should not stop CSA from trying to minimize it if not stop it in their campus. CSA should continue to find solutions and should learn from past incidents to be better at handling it year to year.
• government authorities should be involved here – the PNP for sure as it involves guns and the threat of death on a boy. as mentioned in twitter the Commission on Human Rights and the DSWD should be involved as it involves a minor.
• parents of CSA should be concerned and get involved in this incident. the parents should demand action from the school. they should realize that this incident is saying their children may not be safe inside the CSA campus. not only did this incident show a weakness on CSA in handling bullying cases, it shows a major weakness in security.
• people in twitter (mostly from #gangsters) find the CSA action on this incident as making no sense and being grossly unfair and unjust. the school suspended the boy at whom the gun was pointed at.

latest as of 7:35 pm

the boy was interviewed at abs-cbn’s TV Patrol, his name is Jaime (jay-mee) Gonzales. the information posted here are mostly the same to what he  revealed in the TV interview.

in the tv interview, jaime said bantilles slapped him, cursed him then got a bag from a bodyguard, looked inside and took out a gun. gun was pointed to his face and bantilles said “i can kill you right now”.

why didn’t the teachers who were witnessing the incident  stop bantilles from slapping, hurting and verbally abusing the high school boy?

why did bandilles, an adult and also a father of a teen-age boy think what he did to jaime was right and justified? does he treat his son that way?

video of abs-cbn’s TV Patrol World news clip here : http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/video/nation/metro-manila/09/20/12/parent-points-gun-student-inside-school

——-

click to read here:

see picture of allan bantiles here :  who is afraid of allan bantiles, the father charged of putting a gun on the head of a CSA high school student?

colegio san agustin alumni association response to gun bullying – “wait for school’s official statement”

1 priest & 4 teachers witnessed the gun pointing bullying at CSA – police report

——-

Man accused of pointing gun at student inside exclusive school

By Dharel Placido, ABS-CBNnews.com

MANILA, Philippines – A woman has accused a man of pointing a gun at her grandson inside the premises of Colegio San Agustin in Dasmariñas Village, Makati City.

In an interview with Korina Sanchez on her dzMM radio program on Wednesday, Sony Lopez Gonzales said her grandson was pointed with a gun on the forehead by Allan Bantilles last August 30.

Gonzales said the gun-pointing incident started after her grandson punched Bantilles’ son.

She said her grandson only punched Bantilles’ son after reaching his limits due to the latter’s alleged bullying.

“They kept harassing my apo. Pino-poke ba naman yung penis and pwet. For weeks they were doing that,” Gonzales said, referring to Bantilles’ son and another student.

“Ulit sila ng ulit. Then sabi ng apo ko, ‘tama na, tama na, stop it.’ Doon nag-init ang apo ko, siyempre sinuntok niya,” she added.

Gonzales said after learning of the brawl, the older Bantilles immediately rushed to the school’s campus in Makati with a bodyguard and pointed his gun at the forehead of her grandson.

wawamTECH: philippine call center agents are the biggest liars in the world

if you have a cell phone service, a dsl service at home or a telephone landline in the philippines, then you have experienced this for sure. it is an experience we all have when something goes wrong with any of these services. and one more thing, it is never a happy experience.

1. “I’ll just put you on hold for 1 to 2 minutes” -  that can be anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. never once did i wait for just 1 to 2 minutes when i am put on hold.

2. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience” - saying “sorry” is just lip service. if they are truly sorry then they would ask their management to fix things and get things done faster.

3. “I do understand your concern…” - this is a hit and miss thing. you will be lucky if the call center agent dealing with you really know your concern. this is one of those lines the call center agent say just to pacify you or make an attempt to make you feel better.why do they use this line when it really does not work?

4. “I’m sorry, my supervisor is not available now and is attending to another customer.”  - you did follow the procedure by talking to the call center agent, the first line of defense by your service provider. but after some minutes of dealing with the the agent. being patient or checking your anger you give up and ask to speak to the supervisor. the customer asking for the supervisor is something the call center agent does not like. she is supposed to fix your concern and for the customer asking for the supervisor means she has failed in her job to satisfy the customer. the customer asking to speak to the supervisor is a point against the call center agent. that is the reason why every call center agent in the philippines says this lie. it is an attempt to dissuade the customer from doing that.

we have dealt with call centers of US companies, like several banks. online stores and tech companies, we never experience this with them. ask for the supervisor and the supervisor talks to you in a few seconds if not immediately. it is strange that the call center companies that service US companies are able to do this and yet those servicing philippine companies are not while both are manned by filipinos and are based in the philippines.

5. “I will call you back.” - after some excruciating minutes, your problems with the service has been fully understood and recorded. they know admit something is wrong with their service and that the customer needs relief and action. the call center agent says this to make you feel better, to give the impression that they are there to fix things for you, that they want you to be a happy customer.  but they never call back to tell you if the problem has been fixed or not fixed.

often i will ask the call center agent exactly what she/he will do and what will be said when they call back. i ask that several times just to be clear. i also ask them what time will they call back. they will of course not be precise as to what time they will call within the day which is a ridiculous time frame. it’s weird that call center agents think you will actually wait the whole day for their call.

you push and they relent and give a time frame instead – anywhere from within 3 to 6 hours. you push and ask for a shorter time frame. the most you can get is within 2 to 3 hours.

but do they call back? never! again we have not dealt with a call center agent who calls back as promised.

6. “My name is…” – often i find that that names call center agents give of themselves are not their real name and not the name they use when they are on duty. they do this to keep you off track when you call back and complain about the service you get from call center agents.

i know that as i do call back to complain about call center agents who do bad in their handling of customers. i find out they gave you the wrong name as the person i am talking to will usually say they do not have call center agents by that name. worst, i ask the person i am talking to what is the name of the call center agent who entertained my call based on their record and they say a different name.

7. “My ID number is…” –  one of the other things i do is ask for their ID numbers aside from the names of the call center agents i deal with. the ID number is in many ways a better info than their names. but of course you really can’t be sure that is their ID number. they give you this lie for the same reason they lie about their names.

8. “I will do this myslf…” – this is supposed the  ace in the conversation with a call center agent. this is meant to reassure you that something will be done to fix the problem you had called them for. they are saying here that they will not just make a report and wait for someone to fix your problems but they will take action themselves. don’t believe this, it ain’t gonna happen.

this is a really sad affair not only for these telco companies but for the philippine call center industry as a whole. the philippine BPO industry is supposed to tbe the leader in the world and wants to not only maintain that status but grow it even bigger and faster but behavior like this, the lies that say to customers is not going to get them there.

the other despicable thing about this is that this happens a lot with call centers of telcos like Globe and PLDT (DSL). these are communication companies and yet these examples show they are bad communicators. the worst kind of communication are the ones that lie to customers.

i say it again, why is that filipino call centers handling philippine companies behave so differently and so badly compared to filipino call centers handling US companies? aren’t they the same company and son’t they follow the same metrics of performance and philosophy?

why this is happening is the next topic in this blog.

wawamTECH: how bad is globe service? smart launches a national ad campaign to exploit it

competitive advertising  is one of the most effective advertising concept and format. competitive advertising takes many forms, one is calling out the weakness of your competitor to set up your brand as the superior brand to the inferiority of your competitor. it is one of the most effective as consumers will always go for the superior brand.

not only that, users of your competitive brand, the inferior brand will be encouraged to switch to your brand. that is the main reason why smart telco has launched a new advertising campaign.

globe, it’s only other competitor has been experiencing network problems for many months now.

click to read here : wawamTECH: globe handyphone service failing for months now, collapses metro manila wide on the weekend

globe service has been very unreliable with frequent downtime, inconsistent signal strength, fluctuating signal strength from zero to 2 bars, 30 minute to several hours of receiving and sending text and inability of subscribers to make calls. this has been happening to globe for several months now. this happens area to area but the other weekend the globe system apparently failed metro manila wide.

smart very smartly exploited the inferiority of service that globe has been showing by launching an national ad campaign calling out globe’s network failures. the advertising objective is to get globe subscribers to switch to smart and to prevent new subscribers from going to globe.

this move of smart is very unusual from an advertising strategy standpoint. ads like what smart ran are usually aired by new brands just launching into the market, not by a brand that has been in the market for almost as long as globe is. newly introduced brands use this type of advertising to get loyal consumers of competitive brands already in the market to switch to the new entrant.

globe has been having network problems as a result of a mismanagement of their switch over to a new hardware and system from chinese supplier Huawei which was supposed to upgrade their service – faster service and bigger handling capacity. the change over is so bad that it is wrecking havoc to globe service. (read link, above)

smart obviously knew this as you don’t normally run ad campaigns that feature competitive weaknesses that can easily be solved and quickly. doing that will waste advertising money. smart must have known that the network problems of globe will be going on for a long time that they can actually air an ad campaign on it. smart’s competitive ad campaign has bite only if globe continues to have an inferior product.

this cellphone service war can very well be named as – how your own upgrade can kill yourself.

~~~mindscape landmark~~~
carlo p arvisu 

wawamTECH: globe handyphone service failing for months now, collapses metro manila wide on the weekend

if you are a globe handyphone subscriber, you have been experiencing this – you are unable to make or receive calls and text on certain days, with the signal meter on your cellphone fluctuating from zero  to two bars. this has been happening for months now.

you have learned to live with it, on occasions cursing globe as  you get texts on your cellphone from 30 minutes to 3 hours late. calls made are not any better – you get a “the party you are calling cannot be reached” error message or others calling you hearing the same message. if you are able to connect to a party, the line is choppy with sounds garbled and disconnections happen often.

if you have been a globe handyphone subscriber for sometime, you know that calling their hotline to complain is not worth the trouble to do.  it will not result to anything. the wait is very long when you call and if you are able to talk to a customer service agent, all you get is a promise to fix it but nothing much happens.

the next best thing is you send a tweet to @enjoyglobe and/or @talk2globe. after some minutes, one of those accounts will reply and ask you to DM (direct message) your cellphone number, your cellphone brand and your locati0n to them. you tweet back – “i can’t send you a DM because you are not following me”. (lol).

any person who has a twitter account know that you can only send a DM to people who follow you. but that appear to be unknown to the globe customer service person handling the globe twitter account.

you also know it will not amount to anything so you do not reply. after some minutes, the globe twitter account replies to you that it is true there are network problems in your area and that they are doing something to resolve the problem. that is of course a lie as the problem really does not get resolved for a few days.

you are of course relieved when it gets resolved and you are able to receive and send texts and calls again. but that does not last for a long time as the problem re-occurs again.

after happening at least twice, you get tired tweeting about it and you just console yourself in reading on twitter that many other globe subscribers are complaining about the same thing you are complaining about. you are not alone, the globe service failure happens all over metro manila, repeated many times in all areas and to many globe subscribers.  you wonder, is there a rotating schedule on this one?

what is happening to globe?

globe is indeed having service problems and what is causing this service outages is a very noble reason – globe is upgrading their system.

now, that does not make sense to most of us. if they are upgrading their system, why has the service deteriorated? an upgrade means service will be better but in the case of globe, service has become not only bad but really very, very bad in this upgrade effort of theirs.

we know globe is upgrading its service. post paid subscribers have received at least 2 letters from globe together with our bills saying they are upgrading their network. from what i remember, the first letter from globe came from a vice president or division head then the most recent basically the same letter but this time signed by mr. ernest cu, CEO of globe.

both letters said globe is presently doing a massive upgrade of their systems and spending multi million pesos (meant to be impressive) to do so and that it will be completed within the next 6 months or so. aside from those two letters, globe also released a series of small newspaper print ads saying the same thing.

the truth is, and it is something that globe has not said is that the service failures is being caused by their upgrade efforts.

globe has actually contracted chinese telecom company Huawei to do the upgrade. Huawei was supposed to install new hardware into thousands of globe cell sites around the country. this new hardware is meant to make the globe system faster,  handle more load for them and enhance data handling.

Huawei, a chinese company apparently won in a bidding for this upgrade versus other suppliers like those based in japan and europe. not only did  Huawei submit the lowest bid price, it also promised everything to globe, including the moon and the stars. whatever globe asked, Huawei granted.

globe fell in love with the cheap bid and the amazing moon and the stars promises and awarded the project to Huawei. well, globe soon found out that a cheap bid means you get even cheaper hardware and service. Huawei apparently over promised in their bid and globe for some reason believed them hook, line and sinker.

Huawei simply did not move fast enough to install the hardware in the globe cell cites. they did not want to hire the required number of engineers to install them quickly and properly. (of course, as their margins will be depleted.) not only that, the hardware were also not performing well as promised  and in many cases were incompatible with the existing globe hardware already in place in their cell sites.

this whole scenario is causing the whole globe system major hiccups, thus the frequent, wide and rotating outages of the globe service. problems keep popping up everywhere and anywhere. based on the frequent outages, it looks like very little has been resolved, many months after they started.

the whole situation is so bad that globe has threatened if not has already taken legal action against Huawei. Huawei is chinese and apparently communicating with them has been very difficult for globe and that is not just because of the language barrier. it is also cultural and business ethics that is separating and in fact clashing between globe and Huawei.

that is what has been happening in the past months. but what happened over the weekend?

apparently the globe system collapsed metro manila wide over the weekend – people from all over metro manila complained signals fluctuated from zero to 1 bar, often no service. calls could not be made or received. texts were received many hours late or not at all received.

we experienced that ourselves over the weekend. family members and friends were in different parts of metro manila and we could not call each other and texts were not received or grossly delayed. at varying times of the day, these friends and family members were in makati, taguig, pasig, quezon city, mandaluyong and manila and had the same complaint. twitter showed the same thing.

we had tweeted to @talk2globe last september 1 and the above was their reply confirming there were network problems in san juan. note at the bottom, @TheMallOfAsia account also tweeted problems with globe.

today, monday many more netizens in twitter complained about what happened to the globe service over the weekend. as a concession to the complaints, globe released a memo on their website admitting of the problem on the globe service over the weekend and offered a rebate to subscribers in that area. (click here : http://blog.globe.com.ph/2012/09/temporary-disruption-in-south-manila-last-september-1/)

there are a few things about this announcement:

• globe admitted that there was a network service outage over the weekend
• although globe was not completely honest here as the areas were not just limited to those few areas (southern manila) but practically the whole of metro manila. they did confirm via their tweet that to me that the san juan service was out too. plus the experiences of friends and family who were in the areas i had mentioned, including The Mall Of Asia in Pasay City based on their own tweet.
• the offer of a rebate was a nice gesture but we wonder how that will be done and if this was an honest effort  to make amends. that rebate announcement is very difficult to implement plus grossly unfair to all other subscribers not living in those areas but experienced the same outage.
• what will globe do? give rebates to subscribers only to those whose billing address are in those areas?
•  what about subscribers who do not have their  billing address in those areas but were contacting those living there and were unable to? they were also inconvenienced but no rebate?
•  what about those with billing addresses outside of those areas but were in those places and experienced the outages?

the promise of the rebate to make amends, being short in reality and impossible to implement fairly will not do anything to soothe the already battered globe subscribers. on top of that, it is really short of specifics.

if i were globe, to make this right i would offer rebates to all globe subscribers not just to a specific area. fact is there is no way to determine whether subscribers living in a specific area are the only ones affected. relatives of those living in southern manila but are in other parts of metro manila and even the rest of the country have been inconvenienced too. for sure those living in souther manila have relatives and friends living say in davao or baguio for example who were unable to contact them because of the service outage.

if i were globe, i would give 2 free text days or each subscriber receive 200 free texts as a rebate or a gesture of goodwill on their network problems during the weekend. point is it needs to be network wide, all subscribers and it needs to be meaningful.

what caused the weekend metro manila wide outage?   apparently a major hardware literally collapsed during the weekend. this hardware was like a central system that processes all the texts and calls made to and from all of metro manila. it was something like the central hub for metro manila calls and texts.

we do not know why it collapsed. worst, we do not know why globe had no back up system or some redundancy system for failures like these. the globe system seems to be so fragile, ill conceived and poorly designed. it is shocking considering this is ayala owned to whom funds is not a problem and it is a major telecom company in the country.

will what happened during the weekend repeat itself? well, yes. there seem to be no guarantee that it will not. besides what happened in the weekend was on top of that has been happening in the past months on the Huawei upgrade failures. this was just an add on. that means globe subscribers will continue to suffer.