Tag Archives: Philippines

Quo Warranto petition against ABS-CBN – merits & warts

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As I have posted on Facebook a few days ago, it was quite surprising that to have found some merit in the the quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor-Genral Jose Calida against ABS-CBN last February 10 at the Supreme Court.

Before I continue, a few clarifications: I have always criticized the Duterte administration for its patently-wrong war against drugs, to glaring hints of corruption, incompetence, unacceptable pivot to China and its many anti-poor policies. However, it’s important to keep an open mind and after reading the quo warranto petition, there are some valid, and to my mind are quite simple, points that the Solicitor-General has raised:

Number 1: Offering the digital pay-per-view TV channel Kapamilya Box Office (KBO) using a free-to-air frequency. In the petition, the OSG gave as basis orders, yes there were two: dated April 29, 2015 and May 14, 2019, from the National Telecommunications Commission that told ABS-CBN to “refrain from offering any pay television service” as there are still no established guidelines for it.

To date, ABS-CBN still operates KBO channel which is accessible via its own digital set-top box called ABS-CBN TV Plus. On top of this, which is another violation as per the OSG, the KBO channel can only be accessed by first buying the set-top box and then paying a subscription fee.

Number 2: Transferring the legislative franchise of Multi-Media Telephony, Inc which came under ABS-CBN ownership through a series of acquisitions to become ABS-CBN Converge without prior approval of Congress in violation of the very same franchise.

The other points in the petition belong to the realm of corporate law: ABS-CBN Converge’s failure to offer a percentage of its stock to the public as required by its legislative franchise and lastly, its use of PDRs or Philippine Depository Receipts in order to raise funding from foreign entities which the OSG claims as violative of the Philippine constitution, I leave to the capable hands of the more learned.

Because of all these allegations, the Solicitor-General is asking the Supreme Court to stop ABS-CBN from offering its KBO channel and to cancel its legislative franchise which could take the media giant off the Philippine airwaves.

Full text of the quo warranto petition:

However valid these points are, it’s hard to accept that the Solicitor-General’s petition was done in the noble pursuit of justice and fulfillment of his sacred duty. Before the petition, President Duterte has been launching tirades against ABS-CBN as he holds a grudge against the network for not airing his campaign ads back when he still a Presidential candidate in 2016. Not only did he offer the unsolicited advise to the Lopezes, which owns the ABS-CBN, to just sell the network, he has publicly stated that he will see to it that it gets shut down. ABS-CBN’s legislative franchise set to expire on March 30, 2020 and with Congress deciding to take its sweet time on granting it a renewal, much of the on going debate has focused on whether or not this Duterte words will become reality.

For his part, Solicitor-General Jose Calida has made a name of using his office to go after those who get the ire of the President: online news outfit Rappler and its founder Maria Ressa are facing lawsuits instigated by him and the most recent was former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno – removed from office by way of a quo warranto petition, again by Calida.

So the petition is also an issue of press freedom as much as it is about the rule of law in our land. Much more about this in a follow up post.

How to contact GCash Customer Service

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Updated November 21, 2021 – read on for details

For most of last week, there has been an issue with GCredit. It wasn’t showing up as an option when I tried to use it in a few purchases. Turns out that GCash has been doing some system maintenance to fix this. Last Wednesday, I decided to report it to GCash customer service, but knowing that their hotline 2882 is often useless, I tried one of their social media accounts. Globe has one @talk2Globe and they’ve answered customer service reports so I figured GCash would have one as well as they have @gcashofficial.

However it turns out that it was only for PR and marketing via social media, so I assumed they had a separate Twitter account for customer support. Searched for “gcash customer support” on Twitter and it led me to an account that posed as one. Turns out it was a fake account meant to steal GCash users’ credentials: mobile number, full name, date of birth and most importantly the MPIN. Cutting to the chase, I was alarmed when that fake account asked for my MPIN:

Fake Gcash customer support account
Fake Gcash customer support account almost got away with my MPIN

I stopped the conversation there even after they messaged back insisting that I reply with my MPIN. This is something that real customer service would never, ever do. Ever. So never give it to them and if they ever do, 99% chance that you are being scammed.

So I did what I should have done in the first place, use the Help Center right inside the GCash app. Tap on the Profile icon on the lower-right corner of the app to open the side menu, then Help > Help Center. At the top of the page, tap on Submit a Ticket. You can then reply from inside the GCash app or via your registered email address since you’ll also receive a copy via email.

So to recap, GCash customer service can only be contacted in the following ways: email (support@gcash.com), self-help options at help.gcash.com, 2882 hotline, and from right inside the GCash app > Submit a ticket. All the other Twitter accounts out there are fake and would just scam you.

How the novel coronavirus outbreak gave birth to #OustDuterte

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A lot has happened in the past month since the world learned of the 2019 novel coronavirus that started an outbreak in the city of Wuhan in China’s Hubei province. As of this writing, figures from the WHO are as follows:

Globally
11953 confirmed (2128 new)
China
11821 confirmed (2102 new)
1795 severe (268 new)
259 deaths (46 new)
Outside of China
132 confirmed (26 new)
23 countries (4 new)

Novel Coronavirus(2019-nCoV) Situation Report – 12 as of Feb 1, 2020

In the Philippines, the numbers from the Department of Health as summarized below:

DOH tracker of novel coronavirus cases in the Philippines

The first fatality in the Philippines also earned the distinction as the first one outside of China: 44-year old male who was the companion of the first patient, 38-year old female to have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Both were tourists from Wuhan arriving at Cebu via Cebu Pacific flight 5J 241 (Hong Kong-Cebu) and DG 6519 (Cebu-Dumaguete) last Jan. 21, 2020. From Cebu, they then took a flight to Manila on January 25, 2020 via Philippine Airlines. Both airlines have pulled out the actual planes boarded by the tourists for disinfection and have had their cabin crews and pilots screened for the the coronavirus. They are also working with health authorities in tracking down and contacting the other passengers who sat nearby the two tourists.

For some measure of relief, 24 persons under investigation have tested negative for the novel coronavirus.

On January 31, the WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. In response, neighboring countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Mongolia and Russia have declared travel restrictions on passengers from China. Meanwhile, here in the Philippines, all the government did was declare a travel restriction only to passengers coming form Hubei province where the epicenter of the of outbreak is. This slow response and deference to ‘avoiding the ire of Beijing‘ sparked public outrage that made #OustDuterte a top trending topic on Twitter.

Which was no surprise considering that on that same day, still active Presidential-aide turned Senator Christopher Go stated that President Duterte would meet have a meeting with heath experts and government officials to deal with the outbreak NEXT WEEK! Adding insult to injury, Presidential Spokesperson followed up with a statement that for Duterte, “weekends are sacred” and that he “likes to sleep long.“

The response of the administration’s supporters was not totally unexpected: the deployment of online trolls and bot farms with a different, albeit hypocritical narrative: an appeal for sympathy for our Chinese brethren and that a travel ban smacks of racism:

This quickly backfired as netizens used the troll’s message as a template to further mock and throw shade against the administration:

There are a lot more of these and quite sure you’ve seen either type or both on your newsfeed. The key takeaway is this, at the very least the Duterte administration is sensitive to public opinion.

Volcano 101: Phreatic eruption in Filipino

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Nagiging aktibo ang bulkan kapag ang magma ay umaangat mula sa ilalim ng lupa. Sa pag-angat at pagtama ng magma sa water table o bahagi ng lupa kung saan naipon ang tubig sa loob ng bulkan, lumililkha ito ng steam o water vapor na kumakawala palabas sa bunganga ng bulkan o iba pang biyak sa ibabaw ng lupa.

Sa sobrang bilis ng pagdami ng water vapor, naiipon ito sa loob ng bulkan hanggang sa ito ay sumabog. Sa sobrang lakas ng pagsabog, ang mga bato ay nagiging abo na ibinubuga sa kalangitan. Ang magkahalong steam, abo at maliliit na bato ang siyang dinadala ng hangin sa ibang lugar.

Kung ang bulkan ay magbubuga ng steam at magma ito ay tinatawag na Phreatomagmatic eruption.

Would Congress act fast enough to allow bike-hailing services?

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#Savemotortaxi should now be the the new battle cry for the commuting public instead of just #SaveAngkas as the LTFRB’s Technical Working Group has recently announced that once their pilot study ends, the provisional permits for bike-hailing services like Angkas, JoyRide and Move It will end as well. It means after March 23, 2020, no more motorcycle taxis. Well, the ones you can book via an app that is. The only option left for commuters would be habal-habal, its illegal version.

Unless of course, Congress moves fast enough to amend Republic Act No. 4136 to legalize the bike-for-hire services, commuters would have to find other solutions to the terrible and worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila on their own.

At the moment legislation that legalizes motorycle taxis pending in Congress are as follows: HB 8959 which was passed by the Lower House last February 4, 2019 and is now pending with the Senate; Senate Bills: SBN-50, SBN-128, SBN-409 and SBN-1025.

Maybe the recent ruckus between Angkas and the LTFRB will be enough to get Congress’ attention to finally act on those pending bills.