Four Eyed Journal

Ideas, commentary & geekery

Tag: Philippines (page 1 of 7)

September 9, 2022 / 0 Comments

PLDT’s Shady Speed Boost Promo

Last Sept 2, I was one of the ‘chosen’ subscribers to get the Free 30-day trial of a speed boost that bumped my connection to up to 600 Mbps with an average speed of 480 Mbps, minimum of 180 Mbps with 80% reliability.

After the 30-day trial period, I would be charged an additional P100 every month to keep using the new subscription speed.

At first, it sounded like a fair deal except for two things:

  1. Don’t we have the right to be informed first and consent to have any changes to our subscription? Instead, PLDT unilaterally decided on its own to modify my subscription and then charge me an additional fee.
  2. My internet connection is still nowhere near the supposed average speed of 480 Mbps since I got notified.

I’m not 100% sure, but somehow something wrong has happened and government regulators should look into this scrupulous action taken by PLDT.

Other subscribers have also raised their concerns on social media. To date, there has been no response from PLDT or government regulators about this.

I’ve already raised these concerns to PLDT’s Customer Support team and let’s see how this will pan out.

June 18, 2022 / 0 Comments

#NeverAgain Bundle by Adarna House

Back in May, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency Director General Alex Paul Monteagudo red-tagged Filipino book publisher Adarna House when it offered to sell book bundles about the late Ferdinand Marcos Sr’s dictatorship, describing it in a Facebook post as part of a plan to “subtly radicalize” Filipino children to rise up against the government.

The outrageous and dangerous insinuation that Adarna House, a respected book publisher founded by no less than National Artist Virgilio Almario, has ties to the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing the New People’s Army.

Even acclaimed English author Neil Gaiman weighed in:

It cannot be stressed enough that red-tagging is dangerous and there have been activists that were murdered after being red-tagged.

More to the point, publishing books about important historical events especially in a format aimed at younger readers is not only noble work, it is essentially public service.

So to support Adarna House, I bought their #NeverAgain Bundle which consists of the following books:

  • “Ito ang Diktadura” (2017) by Equipo Plantel
  • “Edsa” (2013) by Russell Molina
  • “Isang Harding Papel” (2014) and “Si Jhun-Jhun, Noong Bago Ideklara ang Batas Militar” (2001) by Augie Rivera
  • “The Magic Arrow” (2021) by Bolet Banal

After a little over a month, the books finally arrived yesterday and the wait was worth it. My daughter finished reading all the books in one sitting and said she really enjoyed each one.

#NeverAgain
#NeverAgain Bundle by Adarna House

The #NeverAgain bundle and many other good titles are available over at Adarna House’s website so grab a copy if you can. I promise you will not regret it.

Disclaimer: This is not a paid post nor am I connected to Adarna House, Inc in any way.

May 6, 2022 / 0 Comments

We need a new and better Senate

The May 9 elections are clearly the most important election in a generation or even perhaps my lifetime. Next to the choice for President, my line up for the Senate is a big and strong rejection of traditional politicians and celebrities that have dominated the chamber for so long.

It is a call for new perspectives, ideas, and brands of public service that we desperately need.

These men and women of diverse backgrounds, experience, expertise, and advocacies will breathe new life into an institution that plays a vital role in our democracy.

September 18, 2021 / 0 Comments

Netizens reject Harry Roque’s nomination to ILC

Together with other bloggers and social media influencers – Concerned Online Citizens collectively, we sent a letter to the members of the UN General Assembly urging them to reject the nomination of Harry Roque to the International Law Commission.

Below is the full text of the letter:

We’ve also put up an online petition so that other concerned citizens can join and express their opposition to this mockery of international law, human rights and an embarrassment to the Philippines.

We hope that you will join and sign up as well. It may be a simple gesture but it sends a powerful message across, that we Filipinos will stand not stand for this abhorrent idea of having a disgraced lawyer and enabler of Duterte.

Instead of being elevated to such an honorable position, Roque and Duterte should be made accountable.

November 19, 2020 / 0 Comments

When the spare tire is better

In the aftermath of typhoon Ulysses that caused massive flooding in many parts of Luzon, the stellar efforts of Vice President Leni Robredo to help out calamity victims have been the talk of the town, so much so that the President dedicated a portion of his most recent TV appearance disparaging her for making it appear that she was in charge, not him.

Presidential mouthpiece Harry Roque even alluded to the term ‘spare tire’ in describing the Vice-President in a follow-up attack.

The actual term is ‘Presidential spare tire’ – a rarely used term and more commonly used by political commentators, lawyers, political scientists, and teachers of the subject Philippine Constitution in college.

It comes from the following provision of the 1987 Constitution:

SECTION 3. There shall be a Vice-President who shall have the same qualifications and term of office and be elected with and in the same manner as the President. He may be removed from office in the same manner as the President.

The Vice-President may be appointed as a Member of the Cabinet. Such appointment requires no confirmation.

Nowhere else in the Constitution can one find a more clear or distinct job description for the Vice-President. If he/she is not appointed to a Cabinet position, the Vice-President has literally nothing else to do except to wait to assume the presidency in case of the death, disability, or resignation of the incumbent President.

An excellent briefer on the Office of the Vice-President by Manuel Quezon III, tell of its colorful history, noteworthy is that the first Vice-President not appointed to any cabinet position was Diosdado Macapagal as he was from party different from the President’s.

Coming back to Vice-President Leni Robredo, she was once appointed to Cabinet as head of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council back in July 2016. On December 4, 2016 she was informed not to attend all Cabinet meetings anymore which led to her resignation from the Cabinet the day after.

Since then, the Vice-President has been doing what she can with what little her office has from helping healthcare workers to get much-needed PPEs and transportation when the COVID-19 pandemic caused a severe lockdown in Luzon to the more recent rescue and relief efforts in the aftermath of typhoon Ulysses.

As I have said before:

Naturally and thankfully, the Vice-President has stepped up and shown what real leadership is.

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