All posts by Pol Pinoy

LEGISLATION SEEKS TO SIGNIFICANTLY IMPROVE INTERNET SPEED IN THE PHILIPPINES

imageManila, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – Despite being considered the social media capital of the world, the Philippines has not kept up with most countries when it comes to Internet speed.  This, despite the fact that Internet service costs an arm and a leg, possibly also a foot.

The Philippines ranks 21st, out of 22 countries in Asia, just one notch above war-torn Afghanistan. Internet experience in the country is reminiscent of AOL’s dial-up service in the early 1980’s.

By way of comparison, Singapore’s broadband speed is 122.43 Megabits per second, followed by Hong Kong with 102.99 Mbps.  The Philippines’ download speed is 3.64 Mbps.

Senator Binay
Senator Binay

To remedy this embarrassing situation,  Senator Nancy Binay, daughter of Vice President Jojo Binay, has formally filed a bill that would significantly increase Internet speed in the Philippines.

In her proposal, the senator wants to limit ownership of smart phones to one per household.  In addition, each household can also own one desktop or laptop computer.

“By limiting the number of people using Internet-enabled devices, we can significantly reduce the demand for Internet access and there will be more download capacity to go around,” Binay said.

Asked how the one-per-family rule will be implemented, Binay proposed issuing licenses to owners of smart phones and computers. If a license applicant resides in a household which had already been previously issued a license, the application will be denied.  In addition, smart phone and computer vendors can only sell their goods to customers who can present a valid government-issued license to own an Internet device.

PRESIDENT AQUINO: “PHILIPPINES IS NOW OFFICIALLY A RICH COUNTRY”

imageMANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – President NoyNoy Aquino will have a lasting legacy to leave behind when his term as president expires in 2016.

Today, Aquino announced that the Philippines is now officially a “rich country,” thanks to his administration’s economic and social programs over the last five years. “We’re now at par with first world countries in the West,” he said.

Aquino made the announcement after receiving a report from the Japanese Cooperation Agency (JICA) confirming that the Philippines is losing 2.4 Billion pesos daily because of the traffic situation in Metro Manila.

The JICA report noted that because of daily congested traffic, workers report late to work, business meetings are cancelled, commercial transactions are  jeopardized, and delivery of goods and services come to a stand still. In other words, productivity is cut by more than half, which is costing both government and private enterprises huge revenue losses.

But Aquino and his technocrat advisers are looking at the positive side to this loss of revenue. The president said that the fact that “our country can afford to lose billions of pesos every single day means we have the money to spare, and only rich  countries have that capability.”

Is it any wonder then that the government seems disinterested in solving the nightmarish transportation and traffic problems of the country, especially in Metro Manila?

CNN VERY DISAPPOINTED THERE WAS NO VIOLENCE WHEN ‘STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON’ OPENED IN MOVIE THEATERS

CaptureATLANTA, Georgia (The Adobo Chronicles® ) – CNN was in full standby mode last weekend, with camera crews and news anchors ready to hit the airwaves at the first sign of violence  on opening night of the movie, “Straight Outta Compton.”

The film tells the story of the group N.W.A., a group from Compton, California that was highly influential in the early days of hip-hop, and included several members that are still famous today, including Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, who also produced the film.

It turned out to be a huge disappointment for CNN as it reported on Monday that there wasn’t violence at movie theaters during the opening weekend of the film.

CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield  began the news segment by saying, “Some movie theaters were worried about violence when Straight Outta Compton hit the screen. Instead, it only led to longer lines, ticket lines and some big money, too.”

The film earned $56.1 million on opening weekend, a record for an R-rated film.

Banfield then brought on CNN law enforcement analyst Cedric Alexander to discuss the reaction to the film and to try to make sense of the non-violence that  greeted the film’s opening weekend.

All week last week, CNN was reporting that movie theaters were employing extra security while local police were being deployed to quell any riots that might ensue as a result of the film.

The uneventful weekend was another missed opportunity for CNN to do what it does best: sensationalized reporting and news analysis.