The World is Watching

Other countries are noting the priorities of our Senate and of our mainstream media:

From a Bangkok newspaper.

The Senate rightly points out that Katrina Halili and Hayden Kho's bedroom antics are far more important than the economy and public health.

Media, the gatekeepers of information, are doing a great job of informing us about this issue so vital it trumps national security and public safety concerns or issues that affect Filipino education.

Pwe. What a waste of carbon.

Hat tip to Jenneh.



Email the jester-in-exile via jester_in_exile@yahoo.com or betajester@mysandbox.com.ph.

POTA NAMAN, TAMA NA. WALANG KWENTANG ISYUNG YAN.

UPDATE: A rather good quote by plurker eloisa: Sen Ado about nothing.

Very appropriate.

This is the Senate's idea of a judicious use of time and resources. From Inquirer.net:

THIS IS IN AID OF LEGISLATION? Lokohin nyo lelang nyo, gago.

(It's also mainstream media's idea of a story worth public interest -- as opposed to the book blockade, right, folks?)

Pwe. I'm making a list of those of you I will NOT vote for, for wasting time better spent on more pressing issues of public import and taxpayers' money better spent on matters more important than Katrina Halili's ass and Hayden Kho's getting some of it.

And to think the Senate is supposed to be composed of intellectual giants and wise statesmen. Instead, we have shills who are fit for no more than Showbiz Central or some similar shit.

Leche. I'll remember YOU in 2010.


Email the jester-in-exile via jester_in_exile@yahoo.com or betajester@mysandbox.com.ph.

The Great Philippine Book Blockade of 2009: Keeping an Eye on This Issue (UPDATED!)

UPDATE (May 15, 2009): Added two interesting blog links, talking about using the visibility of David Archuleta (of American Idol fame) to result in trending on Twitter! Pota naman kasi, sobrang konti pa ang coverage sa broadcast news. Also added a new link from Robin Hemley and a reference by him.

UPDATE (May 14, 2009): Added another media report. This is disturbing -- that there is much more coverage of Manny Pacquaio post-boxing match fluff than this issue. Looks like most of mainstream media editors and producers don't think illiteracy is a problem. Pakshet kayo.

Also, The Bibliophile Stalker tweeted about coming out on MLQ3's show, The Explainer: "BTW just confirmed my participation at The Explainer (TV show) next Mon. (May 18, 6 PM, Channel 27, ANC) to talk about #bookblockade. Tune in to ANC at 6 pm on 5/18."

UPDATE (May 13, 2009): Link to smackdown of Customs' FAQs added. Kudos to Bahay Talinhaga!

UPDATE (Afternoon of May 12, 2009): More links added. Of particular interest is the reaction of the Customs people.

UPDATE (May 12, 2009): More links added. Robin Hemley also says that he will write a follow-up piece on this issue on the Far Eastern Economic Review.

UPDATE (May 11, 2009): New links added -- if you folks have written about The Great Philippine Book Blockade of 2009 and want to help in increasing the visibility of this issue, leave a comment with your post and the post's URL. Let's help breach the blockade with a blogswarm!

No, folks, I've said my piece already. In this post I'm going to present links to those who are -- as I am -- up in arms over the Bureau of Customs' efforts to turn the Filipino population into a mass of ignoramuses. Leche sila.

But before that, let's mosey over to Robin Hemley's blog and check out updates on the author who -- much to our gratitude -- opened our eyes to this travesty.

In Hemley's post Some Heat, Hemley writes a reply to someone who reacted negatively to his piece. His response goes:

When I wrote the piece several months back, the designation had not been removed. This seems a bit of a "not seeing the forest for the trees situation." While on this point, the letter writer might be technically correct, the larger point is that the Philippines is and remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and is considered such by the vast majority of its own people, who suffer the greed of government officials. Virtually every week, a new corruption scandal hits the front pages of the newspapers in the Philippines, each example more egregious than the last. The G20 news just happened to be the story of the week when I wrote up my dispatch. What disturbs ME is that the corrupt government can always rely on such nationalistic and defensive sentiments as the letter writer's when faced with any outside criticism. For the record, while I'm a U.S. citizen, I didn't participate in the colonization of the Philippines (which happened well over a century ago) and I didn't vote for Bush. The fact that the U.S. has its own problems does not in any way diminish the points made in my piece. The argument, "Bush was bad, you colonized us, so don't criticize us," doesn't wash. I'm certainly not gloating or condescending either, as I'm accused. I feel sad that a country I love as much as the Philippines has to suffer under its present colonizers, its own government officials, while always able to rely on knee-jerk reactions as those of the letter writer. Happily, many Filipino bloggers and book lovers and some in the mainstream media have reacted positively to my piece and are now creating a stir to rectify this terrible situation.

Here's my attempt to help provide an index of these people who do care about getting this messed fixed. (Oh, and to that letter writer -- una, hindi issue yung G20 blacklist, kundi yung violation ng Florence Agreement. Isa pa, ang mali, que nakita ng kapwa Pilipino o ng taga ibang bansa, mali pa din. Pakyu ka, mag-isip ka naman, nakakahiyang isipin ng iba na di marunong magbasa ang Pilipino.)

Kudos to these people who care about the literacy of the Filipino... now, folks, do note that this is a partial list -- I'm certain many people are as pissed off by the Bureau of Customs as we are.

On blogs and from bloggers:

The Great Book Blockade of 2009: Timeline and Readings by MLQ3 -- a must read! (also on Inquirer Current; see also On the Great Book Blockade of 2009.)

The Great Book Blockade of 2009 by Philippine Genre Stories -- where (aside from MLQ3's reportage) I go to follow this issue

On the Great Book Blockade of 2009 by Bahay Talinhaga -- for power reading

Essay: Clarifying The Great Book Blockade of 2009 by The Bibliophile Stalker -- another brilliant, must-read piece (also visit Robin Hemley responds)

The Great Book Blockade of 2009 by Bookmarked! -- includes an up-close-and-personal experience with Customs

Going Postal Yet Again by Curious Couch -- legal battle to brew? (Also read her personal experience with books and Customs!)

Love books? Then get ready to scream in FURY! by Topaz Horizon

Marcos in Reverse: The Great Book Blockade of '09 by Indolent Indio

No More Newly Imported Books in the Philippines; the Reason Why by The Trojan Bore (also read DOF Usec Sales -- Novels & Reading Books Are "Not Educational" and Proposing an Easy, Not Too Embarassing Way Our for the Dept. of Finance on the Book Import Controversy)

A Taxing Matter on Jessica Rules the Universe

The Great Book Blockade of 2009 by Beerkada -- an angry cartoon

The Philippine Book Blockade of 2009 on Random Thoughts -- short and nasty

The Stupidification of the Filipino on Filipino Voices

Books and Taxes on The Pork Sword Chronicles

The Great Philippine Book Blockade of 2009 on Komikero Comics Journal

Twilight Made Me Do It by Bittergrace

Missing Comma by Bet.cha.by.golly.world.

Bad News for Bookworms by Animetric's World

The Great Book Blockade of 2009 by Bitter Pills & Breathing Spaces

Book Bugged on Original SIM

Mnemosyne Writes by Mnemosyne Writes

Death and Taxes by Street but Sweet

Kinidnap ni Arroyo ang Libro Ko by Just Press Start

A throwback to the Stone Age by Glass half-empty

A low blow on Pinoy bookworms on opinionated thoughts of a cubicle dweller

Our Bureau of Customs milks on imported books like Stephenie Meyer's Twilight by Purpose Driven Paul

The banishment of common sense by The Pelican Spectator

Welcome to the Republic of Absurdity by The Grin Without a Cat

Twilight and Philippine Corruption by Pine for Pine

The Great Book Blockade of 2009 on Refine Me

Philippine Customs To Impose Tariffs on Imported Books? by The Unlawyer

The Book Blockade of 2009 by Hibernating Bear

Things that sell good in the Philippines will be milked on From Donelle's point of view

Corruption Creeps Into Books on everyday reads

Corruption in the Philippines: Book Blockade in the Philippines on Daily Musings

Signal Number Three by To the Tale, and Other Such Concerns

The Assault on Reason on The Misadventures of Wonderboy and His Broken Hearts

In the Name of Reading on Tales of a Backpacker

(Added May 11, 2009)

The Great Philippine Book Blockade of 2009 on Brise La Mer

A letter from Rep. Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to scrap Customs duties on imported books shared on MLQ3's plurk (also on Filipino Voices)

Running the Book Blockade (on Foot!) on The Wolf's Lair

Philippine Customs Now Taxes Imported Books, Twists International Law by Joel Chua

(Added May 12, 2009)

Espele Sales: "Books are non-educational" by A Bugged Life

Books Are Educational! (rant) on The Wolf's Lair

On book blockage and the Filipino brain on Bury Me In This Dress

Quick copy from MLQ3's post:

andrewdrilon, Animetric's World, Bahay Talinhaga, Bet.cha.by.golly.world., Bibliophile Stalker, Bitter Pills & Breathing Spaces, Bookmarked!, Bittergrace, Fish in a bubble, Star in a bowl, castles in the air, Daily Musings, From Donelle's point of view, everyday reads, Glass half-empty, Hibernating Bear, Hmmm... that's interesting, Indolent Indio, Internet451, i hate twilight, The Journal of The Jester-in-Exile, Jessica rules the Universe, Karotitay.com, Komikero Comics Journal, Life is like a game of poker, Love and Choices, mzeid, Mnemosyne Writes, opinionated thoughts of a cubicle dweller, Original SIM, Just Press Start, Purpose Driven Paul, Onedering Tawts, Refine Me, My Thoughts Exactly, Notes of an Anesthesioboist, Pine for Pine, Pop ups of my mind, Philippine Genre Stories, Random bits of life and media, Street but Sweet, Scratching Post, The Trojan Bore, The Grin Without A Cat, The Age of Brillig, The Curious Couch, The Pelican Spectator, The Misadventures of Wonderboy and His Broken Hearts, The Pork Sword Chronicles, The Unlawyer, To the Tale, and Other Such Concerns, Twilight Sucks, Twilight Coven Philippines, Tales of a Backpacker, touyatouya, The Pageman in Kabul, uneditedmara, What lies beyond the furthest reaches of the sky?, Wandering Star, vinzmondi, xairylle

Barefaced Brazeness from Flanerie

(Added May 13, 2009)

GBB: Dissecting the BOC’s FAQ and DOF Guidelines on Bahay Talinhaga

(Added May 15, 2009)

Philippine blogs use Twitter to cross market the Book Blockade Controversy on the Blog Herald

#bookblockade — well, many thanks to David Archuleta’s media clout on A Bugged Life -- perhaps in reaction to the fact that mainstream media has been remiss in reporting this important issue? Pakshet, mga tamad. Grrr.

More on the Great Book Blockade of 2009 by Robin Hemley

Sound and fury over 'book blockade' on Philippine Online Chronicles

Duty Free Books on Discover the Gift -- on an NBDB resolution

Neil Gaiman joins in spreading the word on the book blockade on In Pursuit of Whimsy -- yay for Neil! Boo to most of our local journalists who have not written about this issue yet! Mahiya kayo!

Relevant mainstream media reads:

(Added May 11, 2009)

A conspiracy of officials -- Manolo Quezon's column on Inquirer.net (also on quezon.ph)

Taxes on books, drugs betray our wrong priorities -- letter to the editor at Inquirer.net (original blog post here)

"Book Blockade" Irks Miriam; Senate Probe Sought. - report on ABS-CBNNews.com

Jojo Binay, Makati mayor and United Opposition President, criticizes duties on books -- report on Business Mirror

Pinoy book lovers criticize new Customs policy -- report on Philippine Star

Taxing books an old policy -- Jarius Bondoc's column on Philippine Star

(Added May 12, 2009)

Binay to Customs, Go After Smugglers Not Bookdealers -- report on Philippine Star

What is the street value of being human? -- Jessica Zafra's column on the Philippine Star

Miriam seeks probe on Customs book blockade on Philippine Star -- contains "suprised" reaction by Customs official

(Added May 14, 2009)

More senators question 'book blockade' on Philippine Star

From government:

(Added May 12, 2009)

Official Senate press release of Miriam Defensor-Santiago on senate.gov.ph

From the Bureau of Customs:

FAQ -- my take? Unlike what the FAQ seems to imply, the Florence Agreement does not distinguish between printed book imports for sale or not for sale; it simply says "printed books". Duh.

Section 105 of the Tariff and Customs Code

Department Order 17-09

I intend to add more, it's just rather difficult to do copy-pasting.

***
I hope that the succeeding days' Google searches will find more people wanting action.

Also, check out On The Book Blockade put up by the UP Hobbygamers' Circle and try to find time to join the WE AIN'T TAXIN BOOKS HERE spearheaded by Rock Ed Philippines' Gang Badoy. There's also a Facebook app in support of this cause.

Spread the word, folks. Spread the word. If you'd like, feel free to leave a comment and a link to your post, so I can add to the index above.

Huwag tayo magpapamangmang.

***
Cabin fever alert. Get me outta here. Nyahahahaha.

Later, all.



Email the jester-in-exile via jester_in_exile@yahoo.com or betajester@mysandbox.com.ph.

Rather Unusual Commitments Seen on the Ako Mismo Campaign "Wall of Commitments"

Let them speak for themselves. Go and check them out in their originals here (in this post, the names of the people who wrote these commitments are redacted out).

Here we go.











And the winner is:



Later, all.



Email the jester-in-exile via jester_in_exile@yahoo.com or betajester@mysandbox.com.ph.

Spreading the Word on the Great Book Blockade of 2009: Robert Hemley Responds to The Bibliophile Stalker

Kudos to Philippine Genre Stories whose efforts to keep us interested folks updated on The Great Book Blockade of 2009 has brought this issue even more to the foreground. Give yourself a pat on the back for this, man; let's hope that something concrete results from this.

(Better than the deaf, dumb, and blind mainstream media, it seems like.)

Also, kudos to The Bibliophile Stalker for his brilliant piece Essay: Clarifying the Great Book Blockade of 2009. This piece has caught the eye of Robert Hemley (the writer of the original controversial piece), and Hemley's comment in reply clearing up a few other cobwebs fleshes out even more the problem.

But let's let Hemley's words do themselves justice. So, here, shamelessly scraping from the brilliant Bibliophile stalker:

Dear Mr. Tan,

I thought I would jump into the fray, as it were, as my article prompted all this discussion. First of all, I want to thank you and others for following up and for your thoughtful discussions of the matter.

You’re absolutely right when you state that my McSweeney’s piece was written some time ago. I wrote it in March, when all this was going on. Of course, I wanted it be published then, but alas, my desire did not make it so. The magazine has its own schedule to maintain, I’m afraid.

As for any factual errors, yes, it’s true, I unfortunately misstated Undersecretary Sales’ affiliation. I’ve made note of that on my website and will also make note in any future versions of the story to appear.

But it IS accurate and no exaggeration when I stated that virtually all AIR shipments of books into the Philippines were stopped between January and March. That doesn’t mean that books were not arriving in the country – ostensibly, books on freighters were still allowed in and you could receive personal books via Amazon during that time. The exact dates were these: air shipments stopped on January 26th and the first shipments were released on March 17th, a day after Undersecretary Sales spoke with importers and book sellers, and storage fees were paid.

I didn’t have simply one source, but a number of sources, all well-placed in the book industry and all quite willing to talk with me as long as I kept them anonymous. It seemed a reasonable request and still seems so.

It’s true that I was not at Undersecretary Sales’ powerpoint presentation, but she made photocopies of the presentation for the booksellers and I was given a copy of this, detailing all of the Department of Finance’s rationalizations. It doesn’t surprise me that she expresses dismay that the booksellers and importers were not in agreement with her. I was told they tried to express their dissatisfaction, saying they would agree, “for now,” but perhaps this point was not made forcefully enough?

Interestingly, the Department of Finance initially told Customs to release the books on January 27th, but their order was ignored by Rene Agulan, and eventually, for reasons I don’t understand, Customs and the Dept. of Finance, found common ground on this issue. But at first, according to a letter (I'm away from home at the moment, so I don't have the letter in front of me, nor the letter's author, only my notes) dated March 5th to Atty Pasion-Flores of the NBDB, the examiner refused to release the books despite the fact that all previous requirements had been met, including a “certificate of membership with NBDB.” Further, it was required that the Dept. of Ed certify the books as educational, but the Dept. of Ed told the book sellers that the NBDB should rightly issue this certification. It was Agulan who apparently decided that these books were not educational, much to the collective dismay of the importers.

It’s Agulan who was the main barrier at first, and a couple of book industry people I spoke with wondered how one examiner would have such power? In any case, as I mentioned the Dept. of Finance soon backed up Agulan.

In my initial piece, I also made mention of Amazon shipments being held up at the post office over the years, and customers made to pay seemingly whimsical amounts for their books to be retrieved. But this part was edited out of the final piece.

Whether or not taxes are imposed consistently or not, it seems to me that any tax or duty, whether 1%, 5%, or 50%, whether imposed by one clerk at the post office or by the Dept. of Finance as a whole, clearly goes against the very straightforward language of the Florence Agreement. Bottom line – duties are not to be levied on imported books. If the Philippines wants to withdraw from this treaty, then that’s its right. I’m not a lawyer, and I couldn’t go into all the details in my short article, but I believe that international law trumps national and municipal law.

As one blogger eloquently puts it:

“A few thoughts on the DOF response. International treaties such as the Florence Agreement have the force of law in the Philippines, and are of co-equal status with the Tariff and Customs Code. Congress could not by law repeal commitments made via treaties, you need to withdraw from the treaty. So I disagree with her claim that Congress needs to pass a law amending the TCC to impose the 0% duty on books, that law already exists and is called the Florence Agreement.”

As far as corruption goes, there's individual corruption and then there's institutionalized corruption.

But I think it’s the red tape as much as anything that has/had book importers so frustrated, the notion that their books might be held up for months while it was judged what was educational and what wasn’t, and by whom.

I also agree that people are focusing too much on TWILIGHT. ☺

When I wrote the piece, I wasn’t sure how much attention, if any, it would receive. I wrote it because it seemed to be an issue of importance that book lovers in the Philippines should be aware of, and it was right there under the radar. I’m glad that people are now discussing it, and I hope that some good will come of this in the long run.

Thanks!

Robin Hemley

Let's keep an eye on this issue, folks. At least visit Philippine Genre Stories' post on the topic regularly, and keep ourselves updated on this.

Let's hope something good comes out of this.

Email the jester-in-exile via jester_in_exile@yahoo.com or betajester@mysandbox.com.ph.

MILF. Swine.

Eid Kabalu and his merry men. (Photo from "MILF Leadership")

In the news: MILF owns up to N. Cotabato raid; But won’t sanction attackers. Excerpt:

Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said that while the MILF leadership was “disturbed” over the attack, those behind it would not be sanctioned

"[On] what ground?" Kabalu said, when asked if fighters from the 108th and 109th base command, who were behind the attack, would be punished.

An attack that wasn't approved of, and no sanctions on the rogue commanders?

MILF: hypocritical fucking pigs.

Pig-fucking hypocritical MILF "freedom fighters".

Be damned to all of you.


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It's Just So Stupid, You Know? (or, let's hope something bad happens so that we don't have to take this joke seriously)

Seen made in honor of Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao.




The scary thing is that quite a few people want to take his political career seriously. Heck, failing that, a seat at the government peace panel?

WTF.

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The Stupidification of the Filipino -- This and That and Whatnot

I've long since learned that if one wants to force intelligence atrophy on someone else, it doesn't take much. All one has to do is control the influx of information (say, by controlling the amount of reading material available), or by denying any information in the first place (by not providing anything to read in the first place).

It turns people into Orwellian sheep, I dare say.

No different is when people to tell you not to write, not to criticize -- under the premise that only those who are perfect have the right to criticize.

Bleh.

If such were truly the case, then we'd still be in the Stone Age; heck, we wouldn't have evolved out of the primordial muck. If we are satisfied with our lot, then there'd be no progress, as progress stems from dissatisfaction with the status quo.

Stifling somebody's ability to criticize is tantamount to attempting to shut his brain off; one can't criticize what one does not perceive and thereafter thought over.

So, this morning, we're going to write how we feel in defiance of efforts to reduce us all to bovine status.

(Apologies to bovines.)

***
A couple of days ago, I read this post The Great Book Blockade of 2009 and ended up being yet again pissed off at the stupidity of government agencies.

But let the post speak for itself. Quoting from the post:

Over coffee one afternoon, a book-industry professional (whom I can't identify) told me that for the past two months virtually no imported books had entered the country, in part because of the success of one book, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The book, an international best seller, had apparently attracted the attention of customs officials.

...

The importer of Twilight made a mistake and paid the duty requested. A mistake because such duty flies in the face of the Florence Agreement, a U.N. treaty that was signed by the Philippines in 1952, guaranteeing the free flow of "educational, scientific, and cultural materials" between countries and declaring that imported books should be duty-free. Mr. Agulan told the importer that because the books were not educational (i.e., textbooks) they were subject to duty. Perhaps they aren't educational, I might have argued, but aren't they "cultural"?

No matter. With this one success under their belt, customs curtailed all air shipments of books entering the country. Weeks went by as booksellers tried to get their books out of storage and started intense negotiations with various government officials.

What doubly frustrated booksellers and importers was that the explanations they received from various officials made no sense. It was clear that, for whatever reason—perhaps the 30-billion-peso ($625 million) shortfall in projected customs revenue—customs would go through the motions of having a reasonable argument while in fact having none at all.

Customs Undersecretary Espele Sales explained the government's position to a group of frustrated booksellers and importers in an Orwellian PowerPoint presentation, at which she reinterpreted the Florence Agreement as well as Philippine law RA 8047, providing for "the tax and duty-free importation of books or raw materials to be used in book publishing." For lack of a comma after the word "books," the undersecretary argued that only books "used in book publishing" (her underlining) were tax-exempt.

"What kind of book is that?" one publisher asked me afterward. "A book used in book publishing." And she laughed ruefully.

...

Likewise, with the Florence Agreement, she argued that only educational books could be considered protected by the U.N. treaty. Customs would henceforth be the arbiter of what was and wasn't educational.

"For 50 years, everyone has misinterpreted the treaty and now you alone have interpreted it correctly?" she was asked.

"Yes," she told the stunned booksellers.

Here's the link to the relevant law, RA 8047, and here's the text of the Florence Agreement.

Amazing. Seriously.

If there's anything I hope gets done about this, I hope that a class action suit will be filed on behalf of book importers in particular and people who read books in general, against the Bureau of Customs. Heck, file it against the government at large, for violating a treaty of which the Philippines is a signatory.

If anything, it should be the educators among us spearheading such a protest.

See, it's sad enough that quite a number of people do NOT consider the Philippines having a reading population (a situation that has a catastrophically detrimental effect on our educational system), but it really gives our people the shaft when the government itself gets in the way of our getting stuff to read. It wasn't reading educational material that makes a man complete -- it was reading per se that Sir Francis Bacon says that makes a full man.

I remember one of my former colleagues, a brilliant supervisor who had a pithy comment when our Catbertian human resources people want to restrict the reading of newspapers in the office. She said, "Gusto ba nila tayong maging mangmang?" I agreed fully with her reaction. Getting in the way of folks' acquiring new knowledge does imply that the people making such an imposition do want these folks to not learn anything new.

Maybe the government does want to keep our people benighted? Heh. Shades of the Noli and the Fili.

Check out Manolo's take, too.

(Maybe publishing this section above in Filipino Voices can help raise awareness some.)

***
Speaking of educators, when I saw that Ako Mismo ad on TV during the Pacquaio-Hatton advertising replay extravaganza, I had just one thought: "Wow, Martin, this is so cool!"

I am speaking of Martin Perez, an educator of the Philippine Science High School and fellow FV denizen.

It turns out, however, Martin wasn't involved in this new seemingly viral campaign. He wrote:

Understandably, my first reaction was “Heeeeeyyyy. Wait a minute.”

Nyahaha.

So there I go and try out the website and look for the About page. It's my experience that viral campaigns generally have sufficient relevant information in their About pages. I click on the About button, and this is what I get:

Sorry, you'll need to register or login to access this page.

WTF.

Look, I'm no Orwellian sheep to be persuaded to join the herd because celebrities have apparently signed up and are promoting the campaing -- I want to know who you are and what you stand for BEFORE I make a decision to sign up. For all I know you could be a means to collect information to send about spam... or worse, an elaborate means to perpetrate identity fraud.

No way am I going to be made stupid just because of Angel Locsin or Ely Buendia's endorsements.



***
Tongue-in-cheek, has there been an overdose of Promil in the past couple of decades? Nyahahaha.

Later, all.



Email the jester-in-exile via jester_in_exile@yahoo.com or betajester@mysandbox.com.ph.

There and Back Again (or, internetting and non-internetting)

Hello, folks, I'm back. Tee hee hee.

I've been preoccupied for quite a while, with so many things on my plate, that I've been unplugged for this long. Heck, it's been noticed by friends, so much so that I've received messages pointing that fact out to me.

(Way to go, Captain Obvious. Nyahaha.)

It's no peach to have neglected my little niche of cyberspace -- heck, the best metric would by my Plurk account's abysmal karma.

(For my fellow plurkers, please click on this link and spam for karma thanks thanks thanks.)

In an increasingly wired world, it seems a bit strange not to log on to the internet regularly, not to mention a fair stretch of internet exile. That said, I've gone through that stretch... and it doesn't seem to have had much of an impact on me -- except that it seems I've missed out on watching the various discussions online on stuff and sense (and nonsense, too, I guess).

Well, today, we're breaking the dry spell.

(Who knew that an internet-less life could be survivable? Not that it's fun, I tell you.)

***
Speaking of the internet, an online article grabbed my attention: More Pinoys going online. Apparently, about 20 million Filipinos are now surfing regularly.

Good news? I suppose so.

However, it seemed from the GMA report that the top usage for our kababayans remains to be social network sites, chat, and online gaming, and that other forms of information dissemination via the web remains a low priority for the average Pinoy. Likewise, the flavor of the report seemed to emphasize internet cafe usage over home connection, as the interviewee in the cafe seemed to imply.

Such being the case, it makes the idea that internet cost in the Philippines as yet does not encourage ubiquitous internet use. Consider these estimated numbers:

Country	Cost per Mbps (USD) (a)	Gross National Income, Purchasing Power Parity (USD) (b)	Normalized Comparative Cost per Mbps (USD)
Indonesia	2340	3,570	0.655462
Myanmar	935	935	0.266952
Fiji	338	4,240	0.079717
India	84.5	2,740	0.030839
Pakistan	76.7	2,540	0.30197
Philippines	41.6	3,710	0.011213
Sri Lanka	39	4,200	0.009286
Malaysia	84.5	13,230	0.006387
China	22.1	5,420	0.004077
Thailand	28.95	7,880	0.003674
Australia	43.23	33,400	0.001294
Singapore	27.3	47,950	0.000569
South Korea	0.33	24,840	0.000013
Japan	0.27	34,750	0.000008

(a) - data from Europe vs. Asia: Internet price comparison for consumer broadband, converted using USD to EUR exchange rate of 1.3

(b) - from World Bank data

Bottomline is that local internet costs are still high as to be more a luxury than a necessity. Duh.

That said, it seems to me that this situation is no different from that of the cellphone. Comparing cellphone use costs in the 1990's versus that of today, it seems to me that internet use will go down the same route.

Taking the same amount of time, though? I hope not. Else, Las Islas Filipinas will be in deeper crapola, what with the pace of the Red Queen principle even faster in this day and age.

See, low internet penetration has a far-reaching effect on so many aspect of a country's society, whether we look at commerce (imagine being unable to sell one's produce in the same markets that a competitor who is connected can reach, or being unable to buy any products except the choices found nearby), politics (imagine being unable to have any influence beyond one's immediate location), or what have you. In this day and age, a country with a low internet penetration will be no better in the race for progress than a sprinter with anvils strapped to his ankles.

Duh, again.

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This problem of the slow growth of internet penetration can be laid squarely in the laps of both government and private industry, I think.

If I recall correctly, telecommunications franchises are the responsibility of Congress, and Congress hasn't legislated anything that will encourage the spread of internet connectivity significantly. No sirree Bob, it seems as if our honorable representatives in the House and the Senate have better things to do than enact laws mandating telecommunications firms to expand to high global standards... such as watching the Pacquiao-Hatton fight at taxpayer's expense. Galing, 'no?

Heck, look at the cellphone service provider industry -- we have how many service providers? Three? (Don't count Touch Mobile, which is powered by Globe, nor Talk 'n Text and Red Mobile, which are effectively Smart.) We haven't even considered landline telephone providers yet... and clearly, there's not enough competition going on to drive down prices.

With relatively high prices, we have a vicious cycle in place: high prices make internet use unattractive for the market, and low internet penetration make telecoms maintain the prices high just to maintain their profit margins.

Yay for free markets. Bleh.

(This is why I urge you good folks to support Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago's initiative to give tax credits for telcos to invest in rural areas. Let's hope this goes somewhere -- but at this late stage of the House sessions, well, tough.)

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Nonetheless, internet growth is something that folks can no longer take for granted -- not that it's exactly new news (bloggers have been talking about the implications for quite a while now, my thoughts on that last year here) -- politicians are now being more aggressive in cyberspace, as the story Politicians taking to social networking Internet sites seems to emphasize. Though the reach is still low, the trends are inescapable, even for the old fogeys among the barong-clad.

So I wonder how the internet will power the 2010 elections?

This will be one of the topics in iBlog 5, and it will be interesting to listen to Comelec director James Jimenez speak of the many ways it will. Register here, validate your registration here.

Find out more in iBlog 5, folks. (I hope I can make it -- I have scheduling problems, sort of. Damnation.)



***
An aside -- the power of the internet: we find out that Pacquiao TKOs Hatton in round 2, long before Solar Sports and GMA show how.

Slow TV. Wahaha. Plurk pwns you badly.

We can also see the numerous government officials enjoying themselves there -- not the least of them Lito Atienza in the hideous shirt.

More sobering this one: OFW in death row seeks help through Facebook.

More help via Facebook than from the embassy? That's sad on so many levels.

***
I'll try to get my blogging groove back -- I've issues on that score that I'll need to bleed off one of these days.

Later, all.



Email the jester-in-exile via jester_in_exile@yahoo.com or betajester@mysandbox.com.ph.