Free Wifi, Faster Access and Cellphone Users Protection Pushed by FICTAP

Super early morning talk with the people behind FICTAP, it’s a party list organization pushing for the welfare of those who wish for fast internet, ICT, VAS, Telecommunications, Cable TV and Broadcast Media. Now I haven’t seen anything like this but I’m interested in why they are representing this as a sector.

They want laws passed for improved public wifi, to let more people have access to information at a faster, more efficient rate. They also propose a cellphone users act for consumer protection so no telecom company would advertise falsely about unlimited promos, plus a custom sim card act to specifically create ones that would be offered for OFW’s, Senior Citizens, Teachers, Mothers so they receive appropriate discounts and promos. They also want a separate online sellers, buyers and freelancers act to further strengthen the e-commerce industry plus a stricter anti catfish law for those unscrupulous individuals who would fool other people in social media and attempt crimes. It’s a long list of things that would benefit a lot of people which Estrellita Neng Juliano Tamano, the nominee who grew up in Cotabato, Cecilia La Madrid Dy who hails from Isabela and Jose Del Mendo of Pangasinan and Rolando Olog of Samar wants to represent.

Ms. Tamano says “We hail from regional Cable TV operators and also do cable internet. Federation of Cable TV and Telecommunications Association of the Philippines. I operate mine in Cotabato, Cavite, Manila and Pasay. They filed foreign equity on cable TV so we separated from the giant corporations. Cable TV is both communication and broadcast and now we do voice, data, and they were not able to pass foreign equity bill. We as micro and small medium enterprise have a different vision and we implement public wifi in third to fourth class municipalities, public schools, dswd, libraries, bus terminals and we are still doing that. We are asked why we are doing this but as a 20 year organization, we have thought of making progress and implement not just in the countryside but everywhere else in the country. Other countries have already done that, we have the capacity to make this happen and we know how to do it. We want to improve the existing free public wifi and not just 256kbps. The republic act dictates only two networks have gateway access, and only the big corporations have that through marine fiber (from other countries). We tried talking to them but the landing stations require you to put a lot of money through the two networks. You have to pay them a lot before you can get access to it, if this was open, it would be better. We have already put our position papers, we won’t be able to fulfill the landline requirement because it is a dead industry. Our neighbors have the fastest connection but we lag behind in implementation. We know cable internet from A-Z and even know how much it costs, but we want this advocacy because we need this for the industry and all progressive have it. We can do it in the Philippines. There is no law also in losing your prepaid load, so if it happens there will be no protection. We also asked seniors if they have Facebook or use the internet in one forum, they all raised their hands, but nobody gets their discount as accorded to them by law. OFW’s too pay for roaming charges and don’t get affordable ways to reach their families. The youth and students on the other hand can access restricted sites, teachers need to check their email everyday but don’t have budget for it, getting online is a chore and expensive. E-Commerce is also booming but there are no protection for consumers, for businesses, people fool other people online. People get killed too, we have no laws on most of these things because they are worried about how they would be asked and have no knowledge about it, but we are experienced with it, we know how much it costs and Filipinos would benefit from it. FICTAP Partylist is 117.”

If that is your cup of tea, make sure you research further and see of they would represent a cause you would benefit from and you are also passionate about. I am in no way endorsing them, but maybe you can consider them if you think they make sense.

Meet KFC’s CHACO (No Taco Shell, All Chicken!)

I had this event on my schedules imprinted as CHACO DE MAYO. It ain’t Cinco De Mayo but the colorful south american vibe of it was celebrated in a new food item from our friends from KFC. I was a bit late because I was waiting for confirmation of my tickets (of another loner travel series soon) but I was excited to see what this fuss was all about. I heard they were already serving food and in the center, there was a big taco that looked funny. It wasn’t an ordinary taco, it looked huge and the shell was thick. Then it hit me, CHACO meant Chicken Taco! Ingenious, we waited for them to serve. 

KFC’s Brand Manager Martha Dela Cruz says “2019 is very busy, you love the cracklings, the famous bowls and recently the double down. This one is exclusively served to you guys as you are the first ones to taste it. It is fresh from our kitchens, we made this fun, inspired from local cuisines and I hope you guys enjoy the CHACO. It’s got lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, taco mayo, grated cheese all sandwiched in our chicken fillet. We hope you enjoy this!” 

This KFC CHACO will be served on May 9 in all KFC stores nationwide, but only on limited offer, so request for it if you like it so it would stay on the menu. Enjoy your CHACO! Oh and you’ll be getting a surprise ok the 13th, let’s see if we’ll make a separate feature for that. 

Follow the hashtags #locooverchaco #kfcchaco and the official @kfcphilippines social media account to know more about it. 

ANGKAS Gets Strong Support From Senate Hopefuls

Tons of motorcycle enthusiasts, clubs, organizations and Angkas riders converged at the Vertis North grounds to celebrate the Angkas Safety Fiesta. It’s an event where motorcycle ride sharing newbies get to apply, trained for deployment, get tons of freebies, and even watch a day long concert featuring some of the country’s brightest stars and viral sensations. This is part of the commitment of Angkas to educate and arm their riders with the knowledge they need to safely go in Metro Manila and keep themselves safe as well. Albeit being in the middle of some government agencies ire in the past few years, they (orgs and Angkas) have been steadily making their presence felt and got the support of several senate hopefuls, as well as incumbent officials to rally behind them during their programs that afternoon. Under the sweltering heat of the sun, they joined thousands of riders at the venue and started talking about their causes and laws that should help them earn a living for their own families. Even local candidates came in. 

Matteo Guidicelli, Rappers, Dancers and even Dante Gulapa provided entertainment for the day!

JV Ejercito showed his gusto to tell people about the Child Safety in Motor Vehicles act and his landmark bill about the Universal Healthcare bill which not only affects ordinary people but riders there and their families as well. 

A few minutes after Chel Diokno went in front of the stage and said his piece “I believe in justice that is fair, equal for every Filipino. I want to send my intentions of the same, to implement it, and I would like to thank Angkas, the riders and everyone who made this safety fiesta possible.” He then signed the covenant to support motorcycle riders and Angkas. (Senator JV Ejercito earlier signed the same document) 

Senator Bam Aquino followed suit and said “My message is simple, we know you riders have a right to make a living. It is not right for you to do that and we need to change laws, so you can do it right for your family. We shouldn’t put people in jail, we made the bill for ride sharing, this is what we will do to make sure you continue working. You have safety, it is important to support you, we are only 4 right now and we hope we have more people support you, we believe people who work for their families are meant to be helped not burdened.” 

Poe went up on stage and watched how the Angkas training for riders was being conducted. She said “I want to say I am impressed with Filipinos who do work for their own families. We all have our own jobs, my Dad was a rider, my Mom always wanted to stop him. I am saluting Angkas because we need a franchise for different modes of transport. Angkas is both a chance to earn and gives proper training. Do you promise to drive safe? Do you promise to drive correctly and follow the law? Do you promise to keep your riders safe?” (They all answered yes). She then goes saying “I think it is time to have a franchise for Angkas. May I ask you do good with driving? I hope I could be of service to you in the Senate.” 

There were several more candidates who appeared and gave their staunch support to their rider groups and organizations plus Angkas too. They have also signed a covenant ensuring they support laws and policies that would take care of the welfare of motorists and the riding public. Drivers had an opportune time to ask questions, learn from experts and see their senate representatives give their thoughts on matters that may affect their livelihood. It was just a great day to see how interested they all were in enactment of laws and more interesting steps they’ve taken to help their sector. 

Now let’s just wait for them to keep their promises! 

Blockchain Collective Offers Integration, Workshops, Diploma Courses in PH

I’m a Computer Engineer but I have never touched on Blockchain that much because I’ve been involved mostly on programming and hardware design my professional life. Like many of you, I am a bit of an alien with Blockchain Technology, I wouldn’t be surprised that only a few people know about it in the Philippines (or other countries) because education about it has been so small. That’s about to change with Blockchain Collective as they envision more proficient, educated and skilled people to support the demand and adoption of blockchain tech globally.

Blockchain is much like a ledger that doesn’t give favor to one centralized verification for transactions. Think of it like a process when one government person attempts to purchase a product, but it goes on a system where everyone sees (everyone has a copy), making it transparent - and when you attempt to change something in it you have to have the consensus of everyone first before you can make changes.

Joseph Chua President of Blockchain Collective Philippines says “Currently we are doing exploratory talks with Ateneo, Mapua and other universities because they are very interested with out curriculum. Hopefully this will be included in their current subjects. We are preparing them to be job ready when blockchain is adapted into their companies. Our amount of coders, we just need to certify them in every aspect we are doing right now. Our company has legitimate ability to certify these individuals, we are Blockchain Collective. Accounting and Finance is just one aspect, there are more.”

Austin Lewinsmith says “I have been in the industry for two years but we have identified the shortage of skill, education and degrees in people and how they can be certified. A one or two day course isn’t sufficient or match up. We wanted to see what was available. We have professional course writers, got to work and have government accredited ones done. We realized the rest of the world don’t have that, they only hear bitcoin and they connect blockchain with it. The public all around the world has started to realize that it had more to it than bitcoin. Facebook, Volvo, Australian Stock Exchange, are using it because they know they need to do it so they could be in the forefront of technology. All the major corporations have programming done in the Philippines, which means education is already here and this is the next step where the internet is gonna go. For us as people, we are giving our information for free, we are forgoing of our privacy. These companies have monetized it, this will take back control of our privacy. Cryptocurrency and blockchain will allow micro transactions soon. Who’s paying attention and started investing in it? The banks now do, it was going to affect them, for contracts, financial transactions, it will take minutes to execute. Banks hold your money for so long, it will enable you to have access to it and allow the world’s reality to have 6-7 Billion in the world connected to it. How do you bring most of them to participate in the world economy? When you’ve got a mobile phone, you can now have access and ability to be your own bank. So someone in the middle of nowhere can start and develop their identity. In Australia there is a new type of health system, but they have a major privacy concern because everyone in that field has access to it. Now what if blockchain is used here, you can use to give information only when you want to. In sense, authorization can be done by smart contracts and change the way accounting is done. We are launching our second diploma, another government accredited course. This is our vision, not always what people say, but do. I believe this is going to be part of our lives in the next 5-10 years. Insurance claims, transactions will all be done with this technology. We are heading towards a global revolution, I can tell you it could taxes, voting systems, all your transactions more transparent. In Australia it already has happened in drivers licenses. The biggest hurdle right now is education, major government systems and startups are now switching systems. To bring it to market and tangible for everyone, we deal with schools and companies. We need people to understand how this will impact us. It will become part of the core curriculum in several universities in the Philippines and one Blockchain Accounting Workshop happened in May 2-3 in San Beda University in Manila. It is everywhere in HR, Accounting, IT, and we have a partnership with ADCA (Australian Digital Commerce Association), what I can say is that I am excited now that the Philippines is at the beginning of expansion. We now have a team on the ground and we all have need for the education so expect us to be in the other universities soon.”

There are 6 core units and about 4 non core units. There is also an Advanced Diploma of Applied Blockchain available, a one day introduction would be sufficient to know your direction in using this.

Courses can be done through the Philippines or in Australia, there are licensing fees and it will be different in costs. In the Philippines can be done in schools, injected in electives and exisiting subjects. They can also do one or two day course, designed for industries. There is also a 5 day training module where you can be certified here since they are currently adapting. Some course content are now available in VR too. In Australia there are accredited trainers, but not here yet. They are currently training trainers, a bit pricey to fly Aussie talent here but they are doing it to engage and move forward. They get enrolled like students, hopefully a lot of people could actually get involved in this soon. We need it, to get ahead of the pack.

To know more about it visit bccollective.io or follow BlockChainCollective on Facebook.