Israel reiterates offer to lend infra expertise

The State of Israel has reiterated its offer to share its expertise in infrastructure development in the Philippines, in partnership with various local government units (LGUs) in the country.

Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Zvi Aviner Vapni emphasized the need for the Philippines to augment its water infrastructure technology, and he believes that Israel could largely help in this area.

Already, Israel has already done partnership with the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), in some water projects in Cebu and Baguio City.

“We would like to [further] share our expertise and intensive information on the field [water technology],” said Vapni adding that aside from partnering with the LGUs, some private companies in Israel which are into providing water technology are also interested to partner with Philippine-based water solution companies.

In Israel, where water is scarce, it has developed a good technology that would preserve water efficiency, how to use every drop of water—not waste it, the Ambassador said.

In Cebu particularly, wherein water shortage is foreseen, LGUs as well as private water technology firms will have to act now, in developing good technology that will augment the water supply available for the province.

Now, that Israel has recently opened its Cebu Consular office headed by Emily Benedicto-Chioson, Vapni hopes that stronger partnership in terms of trade and technology transfer will be started.

The looming water shortage in Cebu in the next few years is now one of the concerns expressed by existing and potential investors in Cebu, especially in the tourism industry.

Switzerland bans civil servants from using Facebook

The Swiss government has banned its employees from using Facebook after failed appeals for them to reduce time spent on the social networking site, a statement said on Thursday.

"Workers who need to access the social network for professional reasons can request a special dispensation," said a statement from the federal government.

Of the government's seven ministries, only the foreign ministry will still allow employees to access the site once the ban comes in next week.

Government workers were asked in May to "show moderation in private use of the Internet, notably of Facebook," the statement said. Such use did decrease slightly, but Facebook remained one of the four most popular sites.

Japan studies noisier hybrids to protect blind

An appeal of a hybrid or electric car is its super-quiet drive. But worries are growing blind people may be endangered by their silence.

The Japanese government has set up a panel with automakers, organizations for the blind and consumers groups to come up with a solution, which could have such vehicles emitting what sounds like engine noise or musical sounds like a cell-phone ring-tone, officials said Tuesday.

A legal change would be needed to equip the vehicles with such special features.

"We are still listening to different opinions and trying to figure out the best solution," said Yuta Kaga, spokesman for Toyota Motor Corp., which makes the hit gas-electric Prius hybrid and is represented on the panel.

The panel, which began meeting in July, plans to have a proposal by the end of the year, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

It was set up partly in response to worries voiced by the blind. The Japan Federation of the Blind, which submitted a request in June, is asking the government to instruct hybrid-makers to make the vehicles safer for the blind.

An informal survey of 52 blind people carried out by the group last year found that more than half of the respondents said they were terrified of hybrids because they were so quiet, although none reported being in an accident.

The Yomiuri, Japan's biggest newspaper reported Tuesday that such measures may be available on Toyota cars going on sale in 2010, possibly with radar to sense nearby pedestrians and making noise only at slow speeds.

Such measures are more useful for Japan's crowded streets than the U.S. and other nations where cases of pedestrians getting hit by a car are fewer.

Sales of hybrids are booming in Japan because of government incentives and tax breaks to encourage green car sales.

Toyota's Prius has been the top-selling car in Japan for four months straight. Honda Motor Co.'s Insight hybrid is also selling well, and hybrid models are expected to keep growing.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. began selling the i-MiEV electric car this year, and other makers are planning electric vehicles.

The widening impact of I.T.

It appears that the Philippine government has at long last prioritized the development of the country’s IT industry, though the sector still faces numerous challenges in order to modernize its infrastructure. In early August the development of the IT sector in the country drew the attention of the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The ITU deputy secretary-general, Houlin Zhao, visited the country in order to better understand how the progression of IT in a developing country can impact industry, especially during the time of a global economic downturn. The case of the Philippines is particularly intriguing as private sector IT-driven companies have continued to expand despite the gray economic climate, largely due to the growth of the business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Currently the Philippines is without a fully-fledged department of information and communications technology (ICT), instead relying on a less empowered Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), along with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). While the CICT and the NTC together perform the essential functions of a department of ICT, they lack the funding, support and political power needed to stimulate and maximize IT development.

In June of 2009 the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce (JFC) of the Philippines recommended 10 policy reforms to the Filipino government that it claims will dramatically increase foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country—among those reforms was the departmentalization of the CICT.

Also drumming support for the necessary legislation to be passed through congress, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made a special point in her State of the Nation Address in late July to implore Congress to pass the bill before next year’s elections.

The reality behind the IT sector in the Philippines certainly indicates the need for decisive action. Recently, the Philippines ranked 85th of 134 countries in the Global Information Technology Report. The report, which assesses a country’s ability to establish and improve ICT infrastructure, indicates the country is falling behind the curve, allowing some of its regional neighbors (such as Vietnam and Indonesia) to surpass it. Industry experts are quick to point out inefficiencies—some of which are caused by the presence of overlapping infrastructure.

It should be noted that the archipelagic makeup of the country presents extremely difficult challenges regarding infrastructure development. As a result, broadband penetration in the country remains very low; however, given the advent of affordable netbooks, Internet accessibility in the country is anticipated to grow rapidly in the near future.

In an interview with OBG, the Globe telecom CEO, Ernest Cu, stated that, “The Philippine broadband market is very attractive as penetration rates are low and demand from both consumer and business segments is increasing. In early 2008, only 8 percent of all Filipino households had broadband access, representing just 1.1 percent of our 92 million population and, therefore, the potential for broadband is vast.”

Other issues, such as e-governance, indicate a need for escalating the capabilities of the CICT. Not only can e-governance streamline simple processes, it can increase transparency and accountability in a government severely lacking in both areas. Furthermore, it is becoming increasingly possible that part of the Arroyo administration’s 10-point agenda, automated elections, may not be fully functional in time for next year’s voting.

Lastly, issues within the private sector, such as piracy, intellectual property laws and the need for IT courts, should likely be addressed in a sterner manner. According to some estimates, piracy accounts for over two-thirds of the entire software market in the country. Software piracy is a crime punishable with up to nine years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $20,430 under the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines (Republic Act 8293). However, the implementation of the law has yet to stem losses due to piracy, which were estimated at $202 million in 2008, up from $147 million in 2007, according to the Pilipinas Anti Piracy Team.

Despite some industry insiders’ perceived lack of government oversight and support, there are several highly promising aspects to the sector—the first of which is the quantity of human resources in the country. While questions pertaining to quality have been raised in recent years, there is no doubt the country produces ample quantities of graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and software development. The English-language capabilities add further value to the human resources of the country.

This is an important factor as the BPO industry is certainly one of the Philippines’ most promising sectors. Also referred to as the country’s “sunrise industry,” BPO has rapidly emerged as a significant contributor to the national economy, accounting for over $6 billion and 600,000 jobs annually.

Over the past decade, growth in the country’s BPO industry has been driven primarily by call centers dedicated to customer service. However, the industry continues to expand in terms of quantity, quality and variety of services. Emerging knowledge-process outsourcing services in areas such as animation, graphic design, IT support and software development will necessitate the continued development of IT students.

Although the Philippines has yet to fully utilize and develop its IT sector, signs indicate that the government will have a department of ICT by 2010. The looming election season of spring 2010, during which time most legislative reform slows, remains the only obstacle. Regardless of congressional outcomes, private sector IT development will continue to grow—creating jobs and adding significant value to the national economy.

Comelec to open up automation source code

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) promises to make publicly available the source code of the automation software it will use in next year’s national elections.

But the poll body said it will need to have the source code certified first by an international organization.

Comelec chairman Jose Melo said the source code--or the program instructions that will define how the poll machines will operate--needs to be accredited first by an international certification body as prescribed by law before it becomes available for final review by interested IT groups, political parties and poll watchdogs.

Melo made the statement after several groups continuously prodded Comelec since last week to make the source code publicly available, saying the code review would take about three months to finish to ensure the program is sturdy against hacking.

The software will power the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) system Comelec will use next year. Smartmatic-Total Information Management will provide the system as the winning bidder.

Under the law, the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC), a body created by Republic Act 9369 or the poll automation law, shall certify through an established international certification entity chosen by Comelec that the poll automation system is operating properly and securely according to provisions of the law, not later than three months before Election Day.

“We will make the source code available for review once it is customized and gets certified sometime in February,” Melo said.

“The source code review is a transparency measure to make sure the operating instructions are free of malicious programs that can cause electoral fraud and is stored in escrow [with Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas],” he added.

Meanwhile, Ateneo de Manila professor Renato Garcia, who sits as consultant for the poll body's project management office (PMO) for the 2010 elections, said they have written letters to at least five of the international software certification bodies that can conduct a “formal, thorough review” of the poll automation system software.

“One of the five international software certification bodies, have already expressed interest to do the formal review of the customized automation software. This body, we found out, has been conducting a software review for Canadian-based Dominion, the software provider for Smartmatic's poll machines,” Garcia said.

“If we can get them, the certification will be easier and faster,” he added.

Comelec urged to adopt cyber security amid hacking fears

A computer expert said Sunday that there is need for the Commission on Election (Comelec) to adopt cyber security amid fears of internet hacking as the Philippine is set to go for poll automation this 2010.

Speaking at the Balitaan sa Tinapayan news forum held in Sampaloc, Manila, computer expert Dante Mara raised the concern of hacking because the system to be used by consortium of Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. (TIM) may be susceptible to hacking of internal data system.

The Smartmatic will supply the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines that the Comelec will use in automating the 2010 national elections.

Mara stressed that the Comelec should opt for a closed loop network that would not be open to outside influences.

“There is no assurance from Comelec and Smartmatic that there will be no problem on mode of connectivity and the outside influences as they will be using worldwide net,” he said.

“The Smartmatic will be using overlaying network using satellite so the data will be transmitted to the main from regional and provincial. The system is good but many factors can affect the transmittal like the clouds, the rains and most importantly the power supply. What if they encounter powers supply interruption?,” he asked,

Mara said another concern is the risk of hacking because Smartmatic will be using worldwide network (internet) as it is open to interference worldwide. “This is the reason why the Comelec should adopt cyber security and come up with a system for auditing,” he said.

Retired police general Virtus Gil, former Western Police District (WPD) director and is now into cyber security agency, echoed Mara’s concerns, saying that the he read the contract of Smartmatic with the Comelec and it did not touch much of the cyber security of the system.

Mara also said the Congress needs to allocate additional P7.2 billion for the cyber security. “This is also for the future of the government. In fact the system to be used should be owned by the government to avoid outside influences,” he said.

Meanwhile, Comelec Commissioner Rene V. Sarmiento Sunday allayed fears that the automated election system can be hacked, the vote results altered during electronic transmission and the system programmed to favor specific candidate or group of candidates, even as he stressed that Republic Act 9369 or the Poll Automation Law squarely addresses these concerns.

In an 11-page study which he submitted to the Comelec en banc headed by Chairman Jose A.R. Melo coinciding with the publication of the statement attributed to Issues and Advocacy Center and the National Computer Center that the Philippine Automated Poll System can be hacked, Sarmiento cited at least 10 safeguards contained in RA 9369 which were precisely crafted to prevent hacking and abort automated cheating and tampering of results during transmission.

Sarmiento said these safeguards were formulated by lawmakers with the help of inputs from the private sector and information technology (IT) experts from nongovernmental electoral reforms groups who appeared during the public hearing on the legislative measure.

He said among the safeguards are the Source Code Review by any interested political party or groups and Field Testing of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines followed by a mock election event in one or more cities or municipalities. RA 9369 also provides for the examination and testing of PCOS by political parties and candidates or their representatives, Sarmiento pointed out.

PRC website hacked again

The website of the Professional Regulation Commission was hacked Friday night, the second such attack this year against the government-owned site.

An official of Defcon Philippines sent a screenshot of the hacked site, which was listed as "suspicious" by search engine Google as of posting.

Google said part of the site was listed for suspicious activity twice over the past 90 days.

"Of the 107 pages that we tested on the site over the past 90 days, six pages resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time that Google visited this site was on 2009-08-20, and the last time that suspicious content was found on this site was on 2009-08-06," the Google advisory said.

It noted that the site was distributing malicious software including trojans and scripting exploits. It said that while the site is not hosting the malicious software, third parties might have added malicious code to the site.

A blog site earlier said the PRC had been defaced and hacked last April 1, 2009. The site was restored in less than 12 hours.

OFWs learn basic computer skills in London

At a time when internet technology has made communication with loved ones more easier, faster and cheaper many Filipinos working in the household sector in the United Kingdom such as domestic helpers, housekeepers and nannies have little or no knowledge at all in operating the computer.

Juvy Santiago, a Filipino overseas worker for almost a decade is one of them. She has not tried browsing the internet simply because she has dedicated herself to earn a living to fend for her family back home.

But her life is about to change.

Santiago is one of the attendees of the training in basic computer course organized by the Philippine Overseas and Labor Office (POLO) of the Philippine Embassy in London.

The course aims to provide basic knowledge in word, excel, power point and writing an email and chatting online, among others.

For Santiago, who has been hoping to acquire basic skills in using the computer, the program came at the right time.

“Malaking maitutulong nitong first learning namin sa embassy ng computer kasi doon kami matututo kung paano kami gumawa ng word, mag- type kami o kahit anumang document na kailangan naming gawin, pwede na naming isarili yun,” said Santiago, a housekeeper in London.

Santiago aims to use the internet as an alternative means of communicating with her family in the Philippines. She said she is looking forward to chat online with her kids which will help her in cutting down her telephone bills.

A total of 29 enrollees participated in the course who like Santiago, are working in the household sector and have very little or no knowledge of the use internet and very low computer literacy.

“The objective of course is to upgrade the skills of our OFWs especially those in the household sector--- the nannies, domestic helpers and others,” said Labor Attache Jainal ‘Jun’ Rasul of the Philippine Embassy’s labor office.

With the UK Home Office toughening up the laws on immigration for low-skilled migrant workers, Rasul said this is an opportunity that OFWs here should not pass up.

“We know for a fact that UK is skills-based and they are attracting migrants who are skilled or highly-skilled so this is the best time to invest in themselves in terms of education.”

The course is going to run for six consecutive Sundays and is conducted at the embassy in London. The POLO office is also offering other skills training such as basic English language course at the culmination of this project.

A moment in history: Understanding poll automation for the 2010 national and local elections

FOR the May 10, 2010, elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will implement full automation in the Philippines.

Republic Act 9369, or “An Act Authorizing The Commission on Elections To Use An Automated Election System In The May 11, 1998 National or Local Elections And In Subsequent National And Local Electoral Exercises,” authorizes the Comelec to undertake this automation, a first in the political history of the country.

From July 30, 1907 (elections for 80 seats in the First Philippine Assembly fought between Partido Nacionalista and Partido Nacional Progresista), up to October 29, 2007 (barangay elections), a total of 100 years, the system of elections in the country was manual. Under this system, voters have to write by hand the names of their chosen candidates, and counting is done with the board of election inspectors (BEI) reading the votes aloud and recording them by means of tara on a tally sheet or election return, and on a blackboard or tally board. Canvassing then takes place in the municipal or city board of canvassers, provincial board of canvassers and national board of canvassers, respectively.

It was this manual system of elections that gave rise to fraudulent election practices like misreading, misappreciation and substitution of ballots at the precinct level and tampering of election returns and statements of votes at the canvassing stage. After each election, the Comelec and courts are swamped with complaints of election fraud.

It took several years before RA 9369 became a law. It was shepherded in the House of Representatives by Rep. Teodoro Locsin and in the Senate by Sen. Richard Gordon. According to Sen. Edgardo Angara, sponsor in the Senate of the supplemental budget for election automation, the automation of the local and national elections in the Philippines “is imperative in order to respond to the crying need of our people: credibility of elections and legitimacy of leadership.”

Automated system under RA 9369

RA 9369 defines an automated election system “as the use of an appropriate technology which has been demonstrated in voting, counting and the consolidation, canvass and transmission of election results.” The system can either be paper-based or a direct recording electronic (DRE) election system. Paper-based election system uses paper ballots, records, and counts votes, tabulates, consolidates, canvasses and transmits electronically the results of the vote count. A DRE election system uses electronic ballots by means of a ballot display in a mechanical or electro-optical component that can be activated by the voter. It must be able to record voting data and ballot images, and to transmit voting results electronically. In either system, paper-based or DRE, the paper ballot, printed or generated by the technology applied, is considered as the official ballot.

Pilot-testing of paper-based and DRE election systems in 2008

The paper-based election system and the DRE election system were pilot-tested in the 2008 Regional Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections. The paper-based election system using the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) technology was pilot-tested in Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi, Lanao del Sur and Shariff Kabunsuan. The DRE was pilot-tested in Maguindanao. Though there were pluses and minuses in the conduct of the automated elections in the six provinces, the automation was viewed positively. The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting reported that the DRE and OMR cut short the time for voting, counting and canvassing, eliminated election protests and minimized election-related violence. Within 48 hours, the regional governor, regional vice governor and regional assemblymen were proclaimed by the Comelec.

On the basis of this pilot-testing of the two automated election systems in the regional ARMM elections and on the basis of cost factor, the Advisory Council—a creation of RA 9369, composed of the chairman of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT); one member each from the Department of Education, Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and academe; three members representing ICT professional organizations; and two members representing nongovernment electoral reform organizations—recommended on March 29, 2008, that for the 2010 presidential elections, the Comelec shall adopt either the DRE or Precinct Count Optical Scan (Pcos) technology for all areas, subject to the automation budget, or the Central Count Optical Scan (Ccos) technology for all other areas not covered by DRE or Pcos. In the Pcos (an improved version of OMR), the ballots shall be scanned, recorded, photographed and counted in the precinct level. In the Ccos, the ballots coming from precincts shall be brought to a central count center to be scanned, recorded, photographed and counted. To avoid the risks of ballot snatching and harassments during transport from precincts to municipal halls and taking into account the election automation budget, the Comelec chose the more cost-saving and widely used Pcos.

Optical Scan Technology

In the United States, optical scan ballots were used by 29.5 percent of the voters in 2000 and by an estimated number of 104.83 million voters in 2008. The optical scan ballot is a paper-based technology that relies on computers in the counting process. Voters make their choices by using a pencil or pen to mark the ballot, typically by filling an oval or drawing a straight line to complete arrows. In the 2010 elections, the voters shall fill or shade ovals opposite the names of the chosen candidates.

Voting and counting flow using Pcos

On the day of the elections that will start at 7 a.m. and end at 6 p.m., a registered voter, after proper identification and issuance of a ballot by the BEI, will shade the ovals or circles opposite the names of his/her chosen candidates. He/she feeds the ballot into the Pcos. The Pcos scans, photographs and records the ballot that will thereafter be dropped into a transparent ballot box. If the ballot is spurious, it will be rejected by the Pcos.

At the close of voting hours, the Pcos is given the command to start counting the recorded votes. The Pcos prints out eight election returns that reflect the names of candidates and the number of votes garnered by each candidate. The contents of the election return are publicly read, signed and thumbprinted by the BEIs and the watchers. One copy of the election return is posted on the wall, while the results are read out loud. Other copies are distributed as provided for by law. Upon disposition of the eight copies, the BEI digitally signs and encrypts the soft copy of the election return in the Pcos, which then electronically sends the election results to the corresponding city/municipal board of canvassers and to the dominant majority party, dominant minority party, accredited citizens’ arm, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas and the Comelec central backup server. After the electronic results have been transmitted and known nationally and even internationally, additional copies not to exceed 30 may be printed and given to requesting parties at their own expense.

For an easy understanding of the process in voting, the Comelec, through the General Instructions it will issue, shall explain the manner and procedure of voting, taking into consideration, among other things, the secrecy of the voting.

The canvassing procedure of the electronically transmitted results by provincial, city, district and municipal board of canvassers, national board of canvassers for senators and party-list representatives and by Congress for president and vice president are provided in RA 9369.

The speed and transparency in transmission eliminate the opportunity to change election results and thwart election cheats to resort to dagdag-bawas or vote-padding and vote-shaving schemes. It is the Comelec’s estimate that in 48 hours, the public will know the winners for the national positions.

Transparency and confidence-building measures

Many are apprehensive about the automated election system. Some questions raised were: (1) Will it not engender massive automated cheating? (2) Can it be hacked? (3) Can results be preprogrammed? (4) Can the vote results be altered doing electronic transmission? (5) Can the system be programmed to favor a specific candidate or group of candidates?

To address these fears and concerns, RA 9369, which was meticulously crafted with inputs from private-sector IT experts and from nongovernment electoral-reform groups during its long pendency in Congress, provides for the following:

1. Source Code review by any interested political party or groups. The source code is the human readable instruction that defines what the computer equipment will do (Section 11, RA 9369).
2. Field Testing of Pcos machines followed by a mock-election event in one or more cities/municipalities (Section 11, RA 9369).
3. Examination and testing of the Pcos by political parties and candidates or their representatives, citizens’ arm or their representatives (Section 14, RA 9369).
4. Preparation of continuity plan containing contingency measures in case of systems breakdown, and copies of this plan shall be furnished all political parties and party-lists (Section 13, RA 9369).
5. Random Manual Audit in one precinct per congressional district randomly chosen by the Comelec in each province and city. Any difference between the automated and manual count will result in the determination of what cause and initiate a manual count for the precincts affected by the computer or procedural error (Section 29, RA 9369).
6. Accredited political parties and deputized citizens’ arms of the Comelec shall assign watchers in the printing, storage and distribution of official ballots. Ballots shall have necessary safeguards like bar codes, holograms, color-shifting ink and microprinting (Section 15, RA 9369).
7. Widespread stakeholders’ education and training program through newspapers of general circulation, radio, television and other media forms, as well as through seminars, symposiums, forums and other nontraditional means to educate the public and fully inform the electorate about the automated election system and inculcate values on honest, peaceful, orderly and informed elections (Section 31, RA 9369).
8. Every registered political party or coalition of political parties and every candidate shall be entitled to one watcher in any polling place and canvassing center (Section 26, RA 9369).
9. The Technical Evaluation Committee, composed of a representative from the Comelec, the CICT and DOST, will certify not later than three months before the date of the electoral exercise, categorically stating that the Pcos, including its hardware and software components, is operating properly, securely and accurately (Section 11, RA 9369).
10. The Advisory Council will continue to provide advice and assistance in the identification, assessment and resolution of systems problems or inadequacies that may surface or resurface in the course of testing, operationalization, storage or disposition of the Pcos. It will also provide help in the risk management of the Pcos when a contingency or disaster situation arises (Section 9, RA 9369).

Other ingredients needed

But poll automation is not the be-all and end-all of clean and credible elections. It will not stop in an automated fashion vote-buying and election-related violence. Other ingredients must come into play and must be considered. These are the campaign for the registration of the more than a million-strong youth, cleansing of voters’ lists, Comelec/voters/candidates education on good citizenship and patriotic governance, Armed Forces/National Police militant support to the Comelec to maintain peace and order in areas of concern and immediate concern, Smartmatic/TIM’s corporate social responsibility, GO-NGO-Comelec partnership, presidential statesmanship and servant leadership vis-à-vis the elections, strict enforcement of election laws, reshuffling of election officers, mass media information/education support and passage of early voting bills in Congress.

In the 2008 US presidential elections, early voters appeared to have accounted for about one-third of the votes cast in the presidential race, availing themselves of early voting either personally in a voting machine at a central polling location, or by mail using a paper absentee ballot. In the April-May 2009 general elections in India with 714 million registered voters, 8.6 million polling stations and 1.4 million electronic voting machines, elections were scheduled separately on April 16, April 23, April 30, May 7 and May 13. Considering the vast land territory of the country and enormous number of voters, India was divided into five electoral zones, each zone consisting of several states and union territories, and each zone assigned with an election date. This zonal and early-voting arrangement enabled the Indian government to focus on each zone its security forces and electoral resources through its electoral commission.

The Comelec, under the leadership of Chairman Jose A. R. Melo, is aware of these different facets of electoral reform and hopes that with the Comelec and everyone magnanimously contributing and doing his/her share, the objective of clean and credible elections will be achievable. After all, democracy rests on three pillars: upright governance, enlightened electorate and vigilant civil society. It is the government and people working together for the public good.

Attitude of hope

Hebrew soldiers said Goliath was too big they could not kill him. David said Goliath was too big, his slingshot would not miss him. Attitude. Equipped with the correct attitude, our people can view this electoral breakthrough called poll automation, and the generous support of many all over the land, young and elderly alike, as reasons for hope and optimism. With prayer and work (ora et labora) that there are better days ahead, Filipinos will succeed. If we whine, we complain, we bemoan that the Filipinos are beyond redemption, we will fail. Against gloom and doom, we labor and hope that change is within reach, and proclaim that God provides and He will never fail the Philippines!

There's room for IT in government amid crisis

Education, health, environment and infrastructure are areas where governments in the Asia-Pacific region would mostly focus their attention and budgets on as they cope with the present global economic storm. Somewhere in the projects that would come from these areas are IT-related ones that would be incorporated as an element of new vital government initiatives.

This, in a nutshell, is the prospect awaiting IT and CIOs in government that market researcher IDC deduced from its latest Government Insights study, Economic Stimulus and Expansionary Budgets: Tabulating the Government’s Response to the Economic Downturn in Asia-Pacific.

IDC said there are $767 billion worth of initiatives that have been unveiled by governments in the Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) or APEJ between August 2008 and April 2009.

The initiatives range from economic stimulus packages and expansionary budgets to the advancement of planned spending and projects.

Gerald Wang, market analyst for IDC Government Insights Asia-Pacific, said, “Most new government budgets do not single out IT spending but incorporates it as an element of a new and urgent government initiative. Despite this, it is still welcoming news for both government technology officers and information technology vendors.”

Based on the initiatives announced by governments across the APEJ region, IDC Government Insights analysts have identified the following key areas of investments, the implications of these priorities on ICT spending, as well as potential opportunities for businesses. These investments will begin in late 2009 and continue through 2014.

Infrastructure projects

Infrastructure projects not only help immediately create jobs but also boost citizen services, as they provide an opportunity for government agencies to address aging issues and problems with congested transportation systems, or upgrade healthcare and educational facilities for the benefit of their citizens.

The spike in infrastructure projects would likely boost ICT investments in areas such as remote monitoring for building maintenance, automated adherence to stricter safety standards and environmental compliance such as monitoring technologies for industry emissions.

Future schools

Future schools, which leverage on innovative technologies and business models to reach their target groups, will emerge as a key investment for governments. Among others, future schools address the objective of governments to create jobs through upgrades in educational infrastructure.

An example of public sector ICT spending that will likely arise from the emergence of future schools is the upgrade of existing ICT infrastructure in educational institutions across all levels.

Healthcare reforms

Healthcare is a key investment area for governments as it is related to job creation, skills development, citizen-services enhancement, and digital inclusion.

Healthcare investments provide a clear boost to public sector ICT investments. For example, to accelerate the move toward patients’ digital information, investments will have to be made in the existing ICT infrastructure of hospitals.

Green technologies

The current financial crisis provides a window of opportunity to restart the economic engine with a focus on long-term solutions that are economically, socially and ecologically sustainable.

In this context, national stimulus packages, to varying degrees, are seeking to not only revive but also green their national economies.

Furthermore, green technologies also help government agencies meet cost-cutting and budget optimization goals through a focus on energy efficiency.

Investments to strengthen green infrastructure across the APEJ have clear implications for technology spending in areas such as intelligent grid technologies, energy efficiency technologies, environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) that generate low or zero waste, etc.

The IDC Government Insights study features a specific country-by-country analysis of the budget stimulus initiatives across 13 APEJ economies. It serves as a guide to public sector CIOs seeking to optimize technology selection and implementation strategies.

In addition, it also provides guidance to IT vendors on how to best engage the public sector and plan the best business strategies to pursue new revenues from the opportunities generated by economic stimulus initiatives.

DOST building, S&T library in Siquijor to operate soon

A two-storey building of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Siquijor province will soon be completed along Baluarte St. Poblacion, Siquijor, Siquijor.

With a project cost of P2 million, construction of the DOST building was started in June this year and is expected to finish in the middle part of October also this year, says Provincial Director Engr. Mario E. de la Peña of the DOST here.

De la Peña said he is very thankful to the local government of Siquijor for the support and the donation of a 150-sq.m. lot for the building.

He said the LGU-Siquijor has been very supportive in its effort to give better services to the people. Aside from the donation of lot, the provincial director said, Siquijor LGU is also one of the DOST’s strong partner in the development of Science and Technology (S & T) in the region through implementation of various S&T programs.

Recently, he said, the DOST approved the establishment of a public library in the town to cater to the information needs of its constituents, especially students.

Entitled "Science and Technology Support to the Establishment of Public Library Services," the project has a total cost of some P444,115; P200, 000 of which will be funded out of the DOST’s grant-in-aid (GIA) and P244, 115 as the LGU counterpart, de la Peña said.

A memorandum of agreement was signed earlier by the DOST and the LGU-Siquijor jointly "pledging to extend their full cooperation for the effective and efficient implementation of a project to diffuse scientific and technical knowledge through the library system."

Both projects are part of the government initiatives to pump-prime the economy which are also attributed to the tough economic reforms instituted by the Arroyo administration several years ago.

Among the notable economic reforms implemented by President Arroyo include the expanded value added tax (EVAT) law which increased the amount of VAT from 10 to 12 percent. It has been heralded as the single biggest act that led to the surge in revenue collection.

The national attrition law which pushed revenue collecting agencies to work double time to reach revenue targets or face consequences and the tobacco excise tax according to her, have also greatly contributed to the record breaking tax collections recorded by the government.

The EVAT and the National Attrition Law were both enacted by President Arroyo in 2005 while the tobacco excise tax under Republic Act No. 7171 was implemented in 1992.

The President said that aside from shielding the country from the adverse effects of the global meltdown, the economic reforms have also propped up the image of the Philippines as a very viable investment site.

"These (economic reforms) have created a firewall that eases the pressures of the global economic crisis and also, they position us well to have a good environment for more investments and business in the Philippines," the President said.

She noted, however, that the Philippine economy has had it share of downtime too.

"Of course there are challenges. While our growth has been positive, it’s been slower," the President said.

To address this, the President pointed out that the country has embarked on a "spending spree" on vital human and physical infrastructures.

"So, we are working tirelessly to secure our food, fuel and rice needs. We are investing in energy and rice self-sufficiency. We’re investing in education. We are investing in human and physical infrastructure and this will also position and accelerate growth when the world economy rebounds," the President said. - Philippine Information Agency, 06 August 2009

Growth of IT in the Philippines: what's the catch?

Arroyo's State of the Nation Address (SONA) today boasted of significant growth in the IT sector in the country. Says Internet World Stats, the Philippines has seen Internet usage shoot up from two million in 2000, to 20, 650, 000 as of March this year. That certainly is a significant increase.

But is this really the right way to measure development in Information Technology? I'm not going to go into whether these numbers are valid, or what exactly caused this increase. I just think that we need to put the figure in the right perspective.

E-commerce in the Philippines

According to the statistics, a third of all urban Philippines already use the Internet. It looks like cost is no longer a barrier against it. In fact, the paper called "Yahoo Nielsen Internet Habits Study for the Philippines" from 2008 shows that about 85% of Filipino Internet users are from class D and E, while the rest from class A, B or C.

However, this doesn't actually always translate to development. Sure, more and more people are riding the Web wagon, but how much of this increase in traffic translate to income or actual gain for the average Filipino? Developed countries have long embraced the conveniences and benefits of transacting over the Internet. Many of our Southeast Asian neighbors also are beginning to see rise in usage of electronic means of trading. I would be willing to bet that quite a chunk of the figures today's SONA boasted about comes from youth activity gravitating towards social networking, communications between family and friends, and instant messaging (chat). That's not a bad thing.

But if we, both the government and the private sector, fail to turn a significant portion of that traffic into something that will bring measurable return, then we suffer a great loss of opportunity. The statistics only proves that we have capability in terms of infrastructure. We now need to provide the Filipino a reason to work, shop, trade and in general transact on the Web, and at the same time reason also to trust that moving towards Internet transactions would be secure and reliable.

Just look at the recent GSIS-IBM debacle. The government agency and international IT giant sue each other for an error that caused the agency's database(s) to crash and become unreliable. Now, what kind of message does this send to people? It blatantly and openly shouts that this kind of technology in the Philippines is simply not to be trusted. Users of the government-operated site reported that they weren't able to get to their records, and some even said that they did get access to records - only that the ones they got weren't theirs. I don't think this says much about security.

The government needs to show the Filipino that there's security and reliability in this technology, and thereby prove that it should lead to benefits for the people. And I'm not talking about downloadable forms, or records that can be viewed via the Internet from home. We need to provide something that will help ease the burden of government offices, at the same time make citizens' government dealings more efficient and convenient. The government needs to make available online all its services. This will then lead people to trust other sites in online transactions. The hope is to create a sense of security and sureness in the people to bring about better E-commerce usage.

Hopefully, the president's idea of creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology will contribute to the betterment of the Philippines IT sector - for real.