Virtual meetings can save energy, says GMA

By Max V. De Leon, Manila Times Reporter

PRESIDENT Arroyo suggested on Thursday that government officials hold virtual conferences instead of face-to-face meetings to save on energy.

Holding meetings through the Internet or teleconferencing is one of creative ways Mrs. Arroyo proposed to enable the government to reduce energy consumption by 10 percent.

Face-to-face meetings means the officials will have to ride cars, the President said when informed by Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Waldo Flores that Malacañang's energy audit team will have to meet with the energy conservation officers of government agencies.

She suggested that to be more efficient, the government should make full use of the new trends in information technology.

Besides, the President said, she was already receiving ranking officials in Malacañang so there is no need to hold other meetings.

Energy Undersecretary Peter Abaya, who heads the energy conservation audit team with Flores, announced that the monitoring of the electric and fuel consumption of government offices will start next week.

Abaya said the 15-man team will be subdivided into three groups—one each for electricity, fuel and documentation.

Monitoring the compliance with energy conservation measures will be done in just 45 minutes, he said.

Agencies will get grades of A for five-star rating and score of 90 to 100, B for three-star rating and score of 80 to 89, C for one-star rating and score of 70 to 79 and F for failed and score of 69 and below.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said there is no need to reward the most energy-efficient offices, since getting their marks published is recognition in itself.

The government hopes to save at least P80 million a month from its energy conservation program.

Bunye said the program also consists in selling old government cars that are gas-guzzlers.

The audit team is drawing up the rules for auctioning the vehicles.

Flores said the Office of the President saved 18,782 liters of fuel from January to June compared with the same period last year, an 11.85-percent drop.

President Arroyo hopes the government's efforts would be supported by the business sector and civil society


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THE BETTER SIDE OF THE PHILIPPINES

The following was written by INTEL General Manager Robin Martin about the Philippines:

Filipinos (including the press, business people and myself) tend to dwell too much on the negative side, and this affects the perception of foreigners, even the ones who have lived here for a while.  The negative perception of the Philippines is way disproportionate to reality when compared to countries like Columbia, Egypt, Middle East, Africa, etc.

Let us all help our country by balancing the negative with the positive especially when we talk to foreigners, whether based here or abroad. Looking back and comparing the Philippines today and 1995 (the year I came back), I was struck by how much our country has progressed physically.

Consider the following:

1. The great telecom infrastructure that we have now did not exist in 1995. 1995 was the year the  telecom industry was deregulated.  Since then billions of dollars have been invested in both fixed line and cellular networks producing a system with over 5,000 kms of fiber optic backbone at a world competitive cost. From a fixed line capacity of about 900,000 in 1995 we now have over 7 million.  Cellular phones practically did not exist in 1995; now we have over 11 million line capacity.

2. The MRT, many of the EDSA flyovers (including the Ayala Avenue flyover), the SKYWAY, Rockwell and  Glorietta 4, the Fort, NAIA terminal 2 and most of the new skyscrapers were not yet built in 1995.

3. If you drive to the provinces, you will notice that national roads are now o f good quality (international quality asphalt roads). I just went to Iba, Zambales last week and I was impressed that even a not so frequently travelled road was of very good quality.

4. Philippine exports have increased by 600% over the past eight years. There are many, many more examples of progress over the last eight years. Philippine mangoes are now exported to the US and Europe.

Additional tidbits to make our people prouder:

1. INTEL has been in the Philippines for 28 years. The Philippines plant is where Intel's most  advanced products are launched, including the Pentium IV. By the end of 2002, Philippine operations are expected to be Intel's biggest assembly and testing operations worldwide.

2. TEXAS INSTRUMENTS has been operating in Baguio for; over 20 years. The Baguio plant is the largest producer of DSP chips in the world.  DSP chips are the brains behind cellphones. TI's Baguio plant produces the chip that powers 100% of all NOKIA cellphones and 80% of Erickson cellphones in the world.

3. TOSHIBA laptops are produced in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

4. If you drive a BENZ, BMW, or a VOLVO, there is a good chance that the ABS system in your car was made in the Philippines.

5. TREND-MICRO, makers of one of the top anti virus software PC-Cillin (I may have mispelled this)  develops its "cures" for viruses right here in Eastwood Libis, Quezon City.  When a virus breaks in any computer system in the world, they try to find a solution within 45 minutes of finding the virus.

6 . By the end of this year, it is expected that a majority of the top ten U.S. Call Center firms in the U.S. will have set up operations in the Philippines.  This is one area in which I believe we are the best in the world in terms of value for  money.

7. America Online (AOL) has 1,000 people in Clark answering 90% of AOL's global e-mail inquiries.

8. PROCTOR & GAMBLE has over 400 people right here in Makati (average age 23 years) doing back-up office work to their Asian operations including finance, accounting, Human Resources and payments processing.

9. Among many other things it does for its regional operations network in the Asia-Pacific region here in Manila, CITIBANK also does its global ATM programming locally.

10. This is the first year ever that the Philippines will be exporting cars in quantity courtesy of FORD Philippines.

11. The government is shedding off graft and corruption slowly but surely. This is the first time in our history that a former president is in jail and facing charges of plunder. Despite all odds, we  are still pursuing the ill-gotten wealth of Marcos now enjoyed by his unrepentant heirs.

Next time you travel abroad and meet business associates tell them the good news.  A big part of our problem is perception and one of the biggest battles can be won simply by believing and by making others believe.

This message is shared by good citizens of the Philippines who persevere to hope and work for our country.

 

 

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Local governments urged to work with internet cafes

Catanduanes Representative Joseph Santiago said local governments should reinforce their supervision of Internet and computer shops to check establishments that could possibly be fronting for illicit cybersex operations.

Police raided yet another cybersex operation in Angeles City's Barangay (village) Balibago. At least six women employed as cybersex models were rescued.

American national James Paul Kelly, 66, was eventually arrested during the Aug. 22 raid. Kelly was the alleged operator of the cybersex den along with a Canadian accomplice, Dave Fischer, who evaded arrest.

Santiago said It was the second Angeles-based cybersex den raided this month. Police busted another one on August 10, which was allegedly run by an American couple, Tom and Virginia Deassy. The couple also eluded arrest.

"LGUs have direct and immediate oversight of all business establishments within their jurisdiction. So the burden is on them, to see to it that shops in their areas are not violating existing laws against obscenity, pornography and child abuse," Santiago said, as he reacted to the latest cybersex den raid.

The congressman bared earlier that over 200,000 Filipinos - women, men and possibly even children - have been lured by cybersex operators, according to the registry of adultfriendfinder.com, a popular web site peddling sexual activities on the Internet.

Santiago said local government surveillance should cover not just Internet cafes but also other shops that offer computer-related services, the sale of computers and peripherals as well as computer repair.

"There could possibly be computer shops out there, not necessarily Internet joints, that are engaged in cybersex activities. All that is needed to engage in the nefarious trade is a computer, a web camera and an Internet connection," he pointed out.

"So a shop supposedly selling computers by day could possibly be secretly into cybersex operations at night," he added.

Cybersex or cyber pornography refers to sexual acts performed by men, women, even children, on connected web cameras that stream images directly to the computers of paying Internet users.

Angeles City alone, Santiago said, has been classified a cybersex hotspot by the National Police since at least 10 dens have been busted there this year.

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Anti Piracy Campaigns

INVITATION FOR AN ON-LINE MEETING

For : ALL INTERNET SHOPS IN OLONGAPO CITY

From : HON. JAMES "BONG" GORDON, JR.
City Mayor

EDWIN J. PIANO
City Councilor
Chairman, Committee on Telecommunications
And Information Communication Technology

Subject: INVITATION FOR AN ON-LINE MEETING
Date : August 17, 2005

City Ordinance No. 24, Series of 2004 and Executive Order No. 84-A, Series of 2005 created and defined the duties and functions of Telecom and Information Technology (IT) Board. Copies of which can be viewed in the following urls:

http://sangunian.blogspot.com/2005/01/ord-no-24-s-2004doc.html

http://telecom-board.blogspot.com/2005/04/executive-order-no-84.html

In line with its mandate, the Telecom and IT Board is planning to meet with Internet Shop Owners, Managers or thier representatives ON-LINE where we believe it will be most convenient for all parties involved. Initial meetings will be by way of exchange of email messages and later, if need arises to act swiftly on pressing issues, a real-time on-line meeting, most probably by using Yahoo Messenger. The Telecom Board had been using this system and found it to be most convenient and productive.

Initial discussions will focus on the cooperative efforts between the City Government and the Internet shop owners on how to address various issues besetting our city in general and Internet business in particular.

In this regard, may we request your e-mail address, contact numbers and name of official representatives for our On-line meetings and other related activities that may come in the future.

It is hoped that this will merit your positive response and the start of our constant communication to further the advancement of IT in our city.

If there are concerns you wish to be included in our discussion, we would be most honored to receive it in the following email address:

intergapo@yahoogroups.com or edpiano@subicbay.ph

cc: Mayor's Office, Business Permit
OCCSA, DepEd, ABC, Telecom Board