Manual polls an option only for worst-case scenario — Brillantes

 News
Feb 072013
 
Manual polls an option only for worst-case scenario — Brillantes

Manual election is still an option in May, but only for the worst-case scenario, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Thursday. “Manual is the final contingency kung talagang may mangyaring grabe na talagang hindi na matutuloy [ang automation],” Brillantes told reporters. Although Brillantes said they are ready for such eventuality, he expressed confidence that the present situation does not call for the manual conduct of elections. “Hindi naman tayo pupunta sa manual. The law already requires automation,” he said. He also said they are not giving weight to proposals to revert to manual polls. “Meron din kaming contingency in the event na kailangang mag-manual, pero hindi namin masyadong pinapansin ‘yan dahil hindi naman kami naniniwalang kailangan naming mag-manual,” the Comelec chief said. Members of the minority bloc at the House of Representatives on Wednesday said they would be “more comfortable” with a manual election after some glitches were observed during the mock elections held over the weekend in preparation for the May automated polls. During the mock polls held in various areas last Saturday, some glitches were encountered in transmitting the results and feeding the ballots to the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS). Brillantes, who said the mock polls generally went “smoothly” despite the glitches, said those who want manual elections should repeal Republic Act 9369, which mandates the automated casting and counting of votes. Section 1 of the Poll Automation Law states that: “It is policy of the State to ensure free, orderly, honest, peaceful, credible and informed elections… Read More …

Transition to summer may come mid-February –PAGASA

 News
Feb 072013
 
Transition to summer may come mid-February –PAGASA

Satellite image at 7 a.m., 7 Feb 2013. Satellite image at 7 a.m., 7 Feb 2013 Weather Central The transition to the hot summer season may come as early as mid-February —or sometime next week, state weather forecasters said Thursday. PAGASA forecaster Aldczar Aurelio also said that while the northeast monsoon may make its last hurrah this weekend, it will not bring very cold weather anymore. “Sa kalagitnaan ng Pebrero, wala na halos ang amihan. Susunod niyan transition period, toward na sa mainit na panahon,” Aurelio said in an interview on dzBB radio. Once the northeast monsoon is gone, he said a high-pressure area or warm winds from the east may cause warm weather, he said. But for now, he said the northeast monsoon may now be affecting parts of Northern Luzon and almost the entire Luzon this weekend. “Huwag asahan ang lamig tulad nung sa January. Ang temperatura bahagyang tataas, papunta tayo transition period (Just don’t expect the northeast monsoon to cause temperatures to fall like they did last January. After this, expect temperatures to go up as we head toward the transition period),” he said. “Asahan natin ang amihan pero hindi ganito kalakasan (We can expect the northeast monsoon to come but it won’t be as strong as before),” he added. Easterlies, isolated rain in next 24 hrs Meanwhile, PAGASA’s 5 p.m. bulletin said easterlies, or warm winds from the east, are still affecting the eastern section of the country. “The whole country will be partly cloudy with Read More …

PH draws German backing on sea disputes with China

 News
Feb 072013
 
PH draws German backing on sea disputes with China

By Fat Reyes INQUIRER.net 6:13 pm | Thursday, February 7th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines – A German foreign minister on Thursday expressed his country’s support for the Philippine position to solve its sea disputes with China under international law, saying that peaceful resolution was best for the two countries. In a press briefing Thursday, German Federal Foreign Minister Guido Guido Westerwelle AP said that the Philippines’ territorial disputes with China on the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) was discussed and that his country remained supportive of peaceful resolution of the disputes. “We appeal to all sides to resolve all the questions in accordance with international law and in a peaceful and cooperative way,” Westerwelle said in a statement. Westerwelle and a 12-man delegation from Germany were in Manila for a two-day visit, the first by Germany’s top diplomat to the Philippines in 12 years. For his part, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario said that he conveyed to his foreign counterpart the Philippine initiative to bring the territorial disputes before an arbitral tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) to “clearly establish the county’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction over its maritime entitlements in the West Philippine Sea.” “I asked him to continue supporting the Philippine effort for a peaceful and durable solution to this dispute,” Del Rosario said in a statement. Westerwelle, when asked by reporters to explain Germany’s support, Del Rosario said that a German professor of international public law was appointed as Read More …

Top 7 BYOD enterprise network concerns identified

 Economy
Feb 072013
 
Top 7 BYOD enterprise network concerns identified

Blue Coat executives Albert Kuo, Vice President, Asia Pacific Field Operations of Blue Coat Systems Singapore (left) and Jonathan Andersen, Director for Product Marketing in Asia Pacific, during a press conference at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City, Philippines. TAM NODA MANILA, Philippines — US-based Web security company Blue Coat Inc.  on Thursday identified  seven bring-your-own-device (BYOD) traffic disruptors that cause IT nightmares among enterprise networks. Blue Coat referred to activities and content sites that take up valuable Wide Area Network (WAN) and internet bandwidth and disrupt the performance of mission-critical enterprise applications. Jonathan Andersen, Blue Coat’s Director for Product Marketing in Asia Pacific, reported recreational web browsing and multimedia traffic caused by the use of applications on personal BYOD smartphones and tablets take up between 30 percent and 60 percent of the total bandwidth. The “always on” connectivity was also cited to drive greater threat risk. “Employees don’t have much security on their phones. They spend an average of 1.5 hours of web browsing using their mobile devices,” said Andersen, noting the users’ vulnerability to phishing attacks. The seven identified BYOD concerns are: BYOD device OS updates and upgrades; app downloads; photo and video uploads and downloads; BYOD backup to cloud storage or a company-issued laptop or desktop; watching recreational video on YouTube; Facetime and Skype video/audio conferencing; and guest wireless. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 On OS updates and upgrades issues alone, Blue Coat said  a single BYOD device can easily overwhelm network bandwidth with Read More …

China accuses Japan of ‘smear’ over radar incident

 News
Feb 072013
 
China accuses Japan of ‘smear’ over radar incident

Agence France-Presse 5:34 pm | Thursday, February 7th, 2013 BEIJING—Beijing on Thursday accused Japan of seeking to “smear” it after Tokyo said a Chinese frigate locked its weapons-targeting radar on a Japanese warship, as the Asian giants are locked in a maritime row. Asked to respond to Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera’s description of the radar incident as a “threat of force”, Beijing foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “Recently Japan has been hyping up crisis and deliberately creating tension to smear China’s image.”    

1.1M ballots printed so far; Comelec chief not impressed

 News
Feb 072013
 
1.1M ballots printed so far; Comelec chief not impressed

Some 1.1 million ballots for the May 13 automated elections have been printed by the National Printing Office (NPO) three days after it started its work, Commission Elections chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Thursday. But Brillantes was quick to admit that the printing was not as fast as expected. “Ngayon mga one million one na siguro (1.1 million ang napi-print), which is mahina yun, mahina yun,” he told reporters. The NPO earlier said that it can print 650,000 ballots per day during the first week and 1 million per day on the second and following weeks. A total of 52,014,648 ballots, which is equivalent to one ballot per voter, should be printed for the May elections. The printing started before midnight of February 4 and is expected to be finished 81 days after or on April 25. The NPO and Comelec earlier expressed confidence the printing of the ballots can be done in 65 days.  Printing stopped Brillantes said he received report that the printing was stopped earlier Thursday. NPO assistant director Raul Nagrampa said they paused the printing to allow the loading of the images of ballots for other provinces and to conduct maintenance work. The NPO has completed the printing of ballots for South and North Cotabato. “Nag-pause lang. They loaded files to shift from Cotabato province to Region 4B, Sulu, and Region 2. Also did maintenance na rin. Resuming na (ang printing),” Nagrampa said in a text message to GMA News Online. He added that of the Read More …

Canadian’s year-old son abducted along with nanny in Pagadian

 News
Feb 072013
 
Canadian’s year-old son abducted along with nanny in Pagadian

By Richel Umel Inquirer Mindanao 5:09 pm | Thursday, February 7th, 2013 ILIGAN CITY, Philippines – A group of still unidentified armed men snatched the one-year old son of a Pagadian City-based Canadian businessman and the boy’s nanny around 6:30 a.m. Thursday. Superintendent Julius Munez, Pagadian City police chief, said the armed men barged into the house of the family of the Canadian trader on Sto. Rosario Road in Dau village and took the boy and the nanny at gunpoint. The boy’s father was not around when the gunmen struck. Munez said police have launched a search and rescue operation to recover the victims.

Globe tells PLDT to remove illegal attachments

 Economy
Feb 072013
 
Globe tells PLDT to remove illegal attachments

MANILA, Philippines –Globe Telecom earlier has asked  the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) to remove the illegal PLDT outside plant (OSP) facilities attached to Globe OSP facilities specifically in the areas of Batangas and Baguio. Globe set a February 8 ultimatum for  PLDT to remove the illegal attachments or else Globe itself would remove the attachments without any liability to Globe. Yoly Crisanto, Globe Head of Corporate Communications, said PLDT shall also pay Globe for the cost of the removal including any damages that may arise on its facilities. “Our Field Operations teams found PLDT OSP facilities attached to our facilities without our permission,” Crisanto said. “We have requested that PLDT remove the said illegal attachments in order to protect our own facilities from unnecessary hazards.” Aside from the areas of Baguio and Bauan, Batangas, Globe also found  illegal attachments on their facilities by Digitel in San Pedro, Laguna. “This has been an ongoing concern for quite a while, and we have raised this issue many times before with PLDT contractors,” Crisanto said, adding that she is expecting PLDT’s immediate action on the issue. 

Congress approves new overseas voting bill

 News
Feb 072013
 
Congress approves new overseas voting bill

By Leila B. Salaverria Philippine Daily Inquirer 2:57 pm | Thursday, February 7th, 2013 Representative Walden Bello MANILA, Philippines—Before adjourning for the campaign, Congress approved a bill that would make it easier for overseas Filipinos to cast their vote, and change the way that the country recognizes its voters who are not in the country. The House of Representatives ratified Wednesday night the amended overseas voting bill, which means it could now be sent to the President for his signature so that it could be enacted into law. The Senate ratified the bicameral report earlier. Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, the bill’s author in the House, said the measure will improve the way the country recognizes the role and contribution of overseas Filipinos to nation-building. The bill will no longer give them the tag “overseas absentee voters” and instead recognize them simply as “overseas voters,” Bello said in a statement. This was an important, emotional matter for the Filipinos abroad, he said. The bill will also make it easier for immigrants to join the electoral exercise, he said. The bill would remove the provision in the law that requires Filipino immigrants or permanent residents abroad to execute an affidavit stating that they intend to resume physical permanent residence in the Philippines in three years before they could register as overseas voters. The new registration rules, however, are expected to be applicable for the 2016 elections because the registration period for the 2013 elections ended last year. “Removing the return requirement will Read More …

In California, a push to highlight the Filipino story

 News
Feb 072013
 
In California, a push to highlight the Filipino story

Kuwento By Benjamin Pimentel 2:22 pm | Thursday, February 7th, 2013 Photo courtesy of Assemblymember Rob Bonta’s office. SAN FRANCISCO – It didn’t take long for it to become evident that finally having a Filipino in the California State Assembly would be a big deal for Filipinos in California and beyond. Just five weeks after being sworn in, Rob Bonta, California’s first Filipino-American assembly member, began working on a bill that would finally honor Filipino immigrants who, nearly a century ago, moved to the US to work as field hands in California, but went on to make history. Bonta’s bill would require California school districts to teach students about the contributions of such historic, but mostly forgotten, figures, as Philip Vera Cruz, Larry Itliong, Pete Velasco and Carlos Bulosan. “As the first Filipino-American state legislator in the history of California, I have the opportunity to provide a voice for the Filipino-American community — a community whose contributions have been historically underemphasized in the story of our state,” he said. Now to be sure, the idea of highlighting the Filipinos’ incredible journey in California didn’t have to come from the state’s first Filipino-American legislator. In fact, Bonta had the work of other legislators, who were not Filipinos, to build on. Ten years ago, Assemblymember Pat Wiggins pushed a resolution that would recognize the contributions of Filipinos in the farm labor movement.  Five years later, in 2008, Assemblymember Warren Furutani moved for a formal state recognition of the contributions of Filipinos to Read More …

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