Typhoon Frank is a PR nightmare for Gloria Arroyo.

She, together with several of her cabinet officers and congressional members went to the United States for a scheduled meeting with US President George W. Bush, plus the usual woo-the-investors and meet-Fiipino-community gabs. Unfortunately, on the eve of her departure, Frank was threatening the country. On the first part of her trip, Frank has already ravaged some parts of the Visayas – Iloilo, for example.

Many people have criticized the regime for the handling of the disaster. Everything went into a mini-frenzy with the MV Princess of the Stars incident, and the outcry over the regime’s action (or inaction) grew. The call for her and her entourage to cut short her trip intensified.

Gloria was in a bind. Should she go home, and see all the goodwill-building meetings go to waste? Or should she stay behind and appear not to care?

Her officials’ handling of the disaster, and their pronouncements, was a disaster in itself.

Just look at Jesus Dureza. He is fast proving to be better than his predecessor Toting Bunye – he can speak/lie with a straight face. The President is very hands-on, he said. Hands-on via teleconference. Yeah, we saw how that went.

That teleconference was another. Desperate to prove that she was doing her job, her publicists opened a teleconference to the media, and it was a disaster. The media had to be shown the door before the fiasco grows.

Here’s what I think. She should hire a good PR agency in the Philippines.

Seriously, she should have went home. GMA cares, remember?

This is a DigitalFilipino.com Club sponsored post.

How to waste Php 2 billion in a month?

Simple. Give alms Php 500 to the poor who are consuming less than 100 kilowatts of electricity. All 14 million of them to be exact.

Kung sino mang opisyal ni Gloria Arroyo ang nakaisip nito, dapat syang bigyan ng award. Kalabasa Award, kung maaari.

Heck, she even argues that this program is funded by the much-reviled VAT. And it “fulfills” the regime’s social justice agenda! Brilliant!

Except the fact that she’s making a fool out of everyone, including the beneficiaries of this one-time doleout. By accepting the doleout, the poor (at least the recipients) acknowledges that this regime is doing something for them, even if the doleout will only cover a month, and is very short term. By allowing this regime to spend the money as if it is one giant donor, the others are giving the regime a free-pass to inefficiently spend our tax money on something that clearly benefits no one in the medium or long term – except her.

I don’t know about you, but this scheme exemplifies her “reform” agenda – alms to the poor, nothing for others, and no substantial changes in the social fabric. It only shows her insincerity.

If she is really serious about helping the poor, she could have spent the money on something more long term. But no. She has other “priorities.”

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There are some political pundits who think that, based on her actions, Gloria Arroyo has thrown in the towel and surrendered to the fact that her term will end June 30, 2010. I disagree. Heck, she remains in a campaign mode, and look at her regime’s previous actions. Why is she doing those things? No, I don’t think she’s thinking of her “legacy” to the country; it is too late for that.

Diversion, yes, but why? To keep herself into power? No, I don’t think so. She has all the pieces in place to guarantee that she lasts until 2010. At the very least. She eyes something else.

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This is a DigitalFilipino.com Club sponsored post. Honda launches VCM 643.

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) should focus on the quality and reliability of services that telecommunications companies are providing, before tackling the issue of free text messaging service. The telcos provide several services to their customers (one of them being text messaging), and the Internet is rife with complaints about these services. For example, Smart Communications‘ Smart Bro services was one of the most troublesome service ever, even spawning a Web site containing complaints against the service; someone even called Smart Bro “a scam“. And that is just for Smart’s Smart Bro service. For a representative problem for Globe, here’s a story by Dine Racoma.

Let us tackle free text messaging when we are sure that these companies are delivering reliable services. This is what needs to be attended to.

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As I have said before, this scheme is just a ploy to get the support of the people. It is a bait, and unfortunately, one group took the bait. How can they be so sure that this regime would deliver? It won’t, since it runs counter to its pro-business pronouncements. And by supporting this move, the organization had inadvertently fallen into the trap set by the regime – it is now a “supporter.”

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Related readings:

* Hello GLOBE-Lines went dead! Schedules gone kaput! AGAIN!
* Making SMS Free? Kalokohan!
* Review of Globelines, Smart Bro, Smart 3G, and PLDT MyDSL Internet services
* I hate Globelines broadband
* Problems with Globe 3G/GPRS & MMS

What’s the price of legitimacy? Just ask Gloria Arroyo.

For the past three months, her regime has pulled the populist tack out of nowhere, only to see the regime’s efforts crumble piece by piece. It began with the so-called rice crisis, which is global in nature. The regime tried to take advantage of the situation, only to see this effort blow in its face. By allowing Arthur Yap to take the first shot in bringing this issue to the fore, in the hopes that the people would see it in good light, the regime has only proven its ineptitude. For such a crisis cannot appear out of a vacuum; it builds up till the supply tightens and prices soar. This crisis had shown that the regime lack the foresight to know that it would come to this, even if the signs were already known to them.

Then, Winston Garcia, head of GSIS, trained his sights on Meralco, owned by the Lopez family, who happens to own ABS-CBN, who happens to appear critical of the current dispensation. He raised a lot of issues via the media, like the opposition is wont of doing (at least, according to the Fortress by the Pasig). He could be believable if he had raised his issues on the proper forum – the Energy Regulatory Commission, for starters. For an ardent supporter of Gloria Arroyo, he should have known better. The Fortress keeps on calling its critics to bring the issues to their proper forum; yet here’s an administration lackey, crying like his marbles were stolen. Also, the current woes of GSIS and its members make his calls for better management of Meralco hollow at best.

Next, we have the House of Reprehensibles gunning on mobile telecommunication companies. It is common knowledge that these telcos earn a lot of money from short message service (SMS) or text messaging, and in turn, the government earns taxes via the despised Value Added Tax (VAT). When the VAT was raised to 12%, text messaging is covered by the increase. And there were even efforts to impose more taxes on text messaging, to curb addiction to the service (making text messaging similar to beer and cigarettes). So to find the House take an about-face and entertain the idea of making text messaging a free service is not only ironic, it is also tragically AGREEABLE to everyone. In lieu of tax on text messaging, the House wants to re-impose franchise tax on telcos, who will surely pass this cost on to consumers. So a seemingly pro-consumer policy will not benefit the consumer at all. A tax, by any other name, is still a tax.

And the latest one? She just ordered state universities and colleges (SUCs) not to increase tuition rates (for those who had already increased their rates, to refund these increases). Nice, right? But this action places a big burden on SUCs, who are seeing their budgets slashed over the years. SUCs are hard pressed now to fund their operations, and without a budget increase forthcoming, we now wonder what would they do. And again, lukewarm reaction.

Despite the seemingly populists ideas by this regime (which are not), the reception by the people is lukewarm at best. Either because the people sees through the camouflage (which some commentators will dispute, though I won’t name names, since you know who they are) or they are weary of an administration whose legitimacy is suspect. If Gloria Arroyo has the undisputed support of the people, maybe the majority would hail her policies, specially the poor. If we have another person as president now, it might even be possible to pull off these policies and appear as a hero. But never with the current one.

What’s the price of legitimacy? Just ask Gloria Arroyo.

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I forgot to place this anecdote in the previous post, since the context applies to the current woes being faced by Meralco.

Last Sunday, I came from church, and my mother reported that a barangay kagawad (councilor) was making the rounds, asking people to sign a piece of paper. It was supposed to be a petition calling for lower electricity rates. But when my mom scanned the document, she found a list of reasons, and number one referred to the Lopez family. My mom refused to sign, knowing it was political in nature, most likely concocted by a local official allied with the current regime. My mom refused to be used by this regime for its political games.

There is nothing wrong with such a petition, but we must petition for the RIGHT reasons.

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Gloria Arroyo continues to claim that the country is a good place to invest in, that we have the best environment for business investments. With the Meralco and telco episodes, I will not be surprised if investors would use a ten-thousand-foot pole before approaching our country.

After rice, electricity, and text messaging, what’s next? The Internet?