Enough is enough

After 30 days of offering to their respective subscribers an "eat-all-you-can" unlimited call and text promo, both Smart Communications and Globe’s Touch Mobile (TM) have decided not to make these offerings a permanent one.

There is a small group of mobile subscribers who are probably willing to endure numerous instances of dropped calls, congested networks. Sun Cellular’s subscriber base doubled because there are people who want to avail of a P250 unlimited call and text service even if it means having to send one message several times before it finally reaches the intended beneficiary or having to dial a number several times before finally being connected.

Smart and Globe’s TM wanted to find more about this new price-quality paradigm created by Digitel so the two decided to offer their respective subscribers their own versions of an unlimited call or text in the case of Smart, and unlimited call and text for TM.

Both companies, in the short period of time that they undertook the promo, proved that quality of service is definitely going to suffer if the subscribers are given an unlimited fee structure. Globe president Gerry Ablaza says that those who availed of the TM promo experienced a degraded quality of service and a higher level of dropped calls, which only means that this kind of pricing paradigm is unsustainable if the network provider wants to maintain a certain level of quality in its service. Simply put, quality comes at a price.

From the readers

"Contractors normally shun project owners who have a reputation for not immediately paying in full the contract price and insist on first going through court litigation. However, in the case of project owner Philippine National Construction Corp., contractors know that it is part of the inevitable program and they are willing to play their part in it.

"When a project is finished and accepted by PNCC, the final payments are withheld because, if such payments are made, the Commission on Audit (COA) will, some time after, conduct its post-audit examination and inevitably discover that certain deficiencies had been committed in the bidding and awards process. Some PNCC officers would therefore be on the spot.

"So, the PNCC withholds payment and denies liability, but the contractors had anticipated and considered such effects and costs in entering into the contract. The contractors then file a court suit against PNCC against PNCC and it thereafter pays the contractor accordingly.

"Since the PNCC is making the payment pursuant to a court decision, the COA auditors merely make sure that the payments are in accordance with the judgment. COA no longer probes into the bidding and award stages. Certain individuals in PNCC are happy, the contractors who had accordingly jacked up their bids are happy, and semblance of regularity has prevailed without COA and the judicial system being aware that they had been made unwitting tools." – Name withheld upon request

Not so hidden agenda

Congratulations are in order for Samal, Bataan Mayor Rolly Tinga and his indefatigable wife Marilyn who made the traditional senakulo in our barrio in Calaguiman one for the books and probably the most organized and most attended since its inception 58 years ago. Through Marilyn’s efforts mostly, Calaguiman was able to secure funds from the provincial tourism council led by Vicky Garcia, the wife of Gov. and former congressman Tet Garcia to augment the activity’s budget. About 2,000 local and foreign tourists as well as the townsfolk trooped to the plaza to witness our rendition of this traditional Holy Week highlight.

The festivities are not over, however. The Bataan Day celebration kicks off on April 7 with a parade of floats culminating on April 9 when the President visits the historic Mt. Samat. A one-week festival meanwhile marks the celebration of Samal Day beginning April 16. For the first time, Samal will have its official hymn and a singing competition will be held to discover who can give the best rendition of the Samal hym. Then on April 25, Samal town celebrates its fiesta, with the funfare ending on April 30.

My visit to my mom’s hometown would have been the best I ever had in years had I not met our new parish priest, Fr. Felix Sevilla who is probably the most arrogant priest I’ve ever met and who is a disgrace to the Catholic Church. He renovated the church without securing a municipal permit, leaving the mayor’s office no alternative but to ask him to refrain from continuing with the construction. Not only did the priest not install safety nets to protect passersby from falling objects, the new roof of the church was encroaching upon our boundary. Fr. Sevilla threatened to destroy our house and harm us because he believes he had the right to extend the roof because our great grandmother Maria Aquino’s land title extended three meters into the church lot. Unthinkable, considering that it was she who donated the lot to the church. And he claims his actions have the blessings of Bishop Soc Villegas. Talking about using his name in vain. The people of Calaguiman want Fr. Sevilla out of his parish. Even his choir members want to abandon him because he does not treat anybody with respect. I hope that Bishop Villegas will act immediately to rid San Vicente Ferrer parish of the worst parish priest it ever had.

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