Maniolas

Marlon Garcia of Smartmatic Corporation shows the use of a Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) headquarters in Manila on Tuesday. Use of the PCOS in the 2016 elections is still up in the air after the Supreme Court voided Comelec’s maintenance contract with Smartmatic last April. (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) – About P8 billion will be spent for the lease of more than 93,000 optical mark reader (OMR) machines for the 2016 elections. The lease contract was awarded to Smartmatic, the same technology provider for the 2010 and 2013 polls. National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) member and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Gus Lagman alleged Smartmatic appears to have a monopoly over providing machines for Philippine elections. But Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said Smartmatic won the bidding for the contract fair and square. “Lahat yan dumaan sa bidding, and in all the biddings that we conducted, those were open biddings,” Jimenez said. “Unfortunately, the quality of participation kinda fell short of actually becoming competitive. Ultimately, what does that result in? It results in only one bidder being left and the only bidder left was Smartmatic,” he said. “Perhaps the feeling is that it’s going to be rigged. It’s Smartmatic anyway,” said Lagman. The Comelec said existing precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines will be refurbished for the 2019 elections. But Lagman pointed out this could have been done as early as 2014. “Smartmatic is obligated to train Comelec personnel on Read More …

Telsa Hybrid. ©courtesy of Tesla Japan. (Las Vegas-AFP) – Hackers swarmed a Tesla sedan in a ‘hacking village’ at the infamous Def Con conference on Saturday as the high-tech electric car maker recruited talent to protect against cyber attacks. It was the second year in a row the California-based company was at the world’s largest gathering of hackers in Las Vegas, and came on the heels of a massive recall of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles vehicles to patch a flaw that could let them be remotely commandeered. “Hackers are a crowd that is really important to us,” Tesla’s Khobi Brooklyn told AFP while Def Con attendees took turns inside a black Model S sedan parked inside a casino convention area. “It is a community that we want to be part of, and collaborate with, as well as recruit from.” Tesla recruiters were on hand, along with members of the California-based company’s security team. Tesla cars are highly computerized. New features as well as software updates are pushed out to vehicles over wireless Internet connections. “They are not messing with our software,” Brooklyn said with only a hint of hesitation. She knew of no cyber attacks aimed at Tesla cars, at Def Con or anywhere else. Tesla has worked with Lookout Mobile Security to find and patch software vulnerabilities in sedans, according to Brooklyn. Data centers on wheels Lookout co-founder and chief technology officer Kevin Mahaffey and Marc Rogers of CloudFlare online security firm took part in a Def Con presentation on Read More …

Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres (MNS Photo) Richard Gomez admitted he and his wife, actress-politician Lucy Torres, are planning to grow their family and give their daughter Juliana a baby brother. Gomez said they hope God blesses them with another child. “We’ve been working on it. We’re still working on it. If it comes, then good. Siguro boy naman kasi may girl na eh. Someday, hopefully,” he said. For now, Gomez said he and Torres are concentrating on Juliana, who is already 14 years old. Asked if he already allows her daughter to go on dates, the actor said: “I think she is too young to go out on dates. She’s only 14. Let her remain a child first. Because going out, that could happen in years to come but now she needs to focus more on her studies. She can indulge herself in sports.” This is not the first time that Gomez and Torres expressed their desire to have another baby. In 2013, the couple earlier said that they will work on having another child after the mid-term elections. Gomez and Torres have been married for 17 years now. The two tied the knot on April 28, 1998. Currently, Gomez is busy promoting his upcoming movie “The Love Affair,” which also stars Dawn Zulueta and Bea Alonzo. (MNS)

President Aquino raises the hand of DILG Secretary Mar Roxas to the shower of confetti after Aquino endorsed Roxas for the presidential race at the Club Filipino in Greenhills on Friday. Aquino cited Roxas’ record and pointed to him as the best bet to continue the “Daang Matuwid” (Straight Path). (MNS photo) VALENCIA CITY (Mabuhay) — As if reliving his “Mr. Palengke” campaign, Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas visited a public market in Bukidnon Province on Thursday morning. Welcomed by shrieks of his supporters, Roxas went to the Valencia City Central Market, which is a recipient of the Department of Interior and Local Government’s bottom-up budgeting, and checked the prices of commodities here. The standard-bearer of the ruling Liberal Party said he never lost the “Mr. Palengke” (Mr. Marketplace) in him despite being given other duties. “Nagpapasalamat ako sa napakainit na pagtanggap nila dito sa palengke ng Valencia at nasasariwa ang mga alaala ko noong ako ay nakilala bilang Mr. Palengke,” (I am thankful for your warm welcome. You remind me of when I was known as Mr. Palengke) he said. “Hindi naman nawala sa akin ang pagiging Mr Palengke. Nag-iba lang ako ng tungkulin. Sa kahit anong trabaho, parating nandoon pa rin tayo,” (Mr. Palengke never left me. I just took another responsibility. In everything I do, it remains with me) he added. He stressed that focus should be put on public markets as these are centers of commerce in a community. After meeting his supporters in the market, Read More …

Senator Loren Legarda (right), chairperson of the Senate Committee on Finance, talks with Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process (OPAPP) Secretary Teresita Quintos Deles (left) and Professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer before the start of the Senate Session on Wednesday (Aug. 12, 2015). (MNS photo) MANILA (Mabuhay) — “Smuggling is bigger than PDAF,” so said Senator Cynthia Villar, who on Thursday expressed her disappointment at the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) continued failure to file cases against suspected smugglers. At the hearing of the Senate committee on finance on the proposed 2016 national budget, Villar asked why the government was allowing private individuals to import rice, when in reality she said these importers are the “smugglers.” “That’s common knowledge, you’re turning a blind to the reality that the importers are the smugglers,” she said. “We conducted a very long hearing on that and it’s unfortunate that after conducting long hearing on that, the DOJ failed to file cases against the smugglers.” “And you know you file a lot of cases on PDAF but you did not file any case of smuggler. Smuggling is bigger than PDAF. The loss in smuggling is bigger than PDAF,” said Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on agriculture. PDAF is priority development assistance fund also known as the “pork barrel” funds. Three senators— Juan Ponce Enrile, Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.—were among those charged with plunder and detained over the pork barrel scam. Senator Loren Legarda, who’s presiding over the budget hearing as Read More …