Russian jammers

Dasmariñas Village residents have been complaining about a couple of foreign embassies doing consular business inside the village, but one particular embassy cuts the cake. Not only are they conducting business causing undue traffic in the street, but they are also allegedly jamming cellphone users around the perimeter. While residents don’t really mind the presence of diplomats living in the exclusive village, a lot of them worry about the possibility of “secret” activities being conducted that would require the jamming of airwaves.

We’re told that complaints have been filed by several residents with the Dasmariñas Village Association about jammers allegedly coming from the Russian Embassy along Acacia St., causing cellphone signals to disappear outright even as far as several kilometers from the area. Certainly, there is no such thing as diplomatic immunity when it comes to “freedom of the airwaves.” Even other embassy personnel residing in the village are complaining about their alleged inability to use cellphones and other equipment at certain times of the day.

The recent warning issued by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) about the presence of jammers in the country is making residents even more worried since the barangay office is not too far away, and these jammers could possibly disrupt the transmission of results for the May elections. Aren’t all kinds of jammers supposed to be illegal according to the Comelec and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)?

These alleged diplomatic jammers should be stopped. Who cares about these so-called secret and covert ops or activities reportedly being conducted? “Give us back our airwaves!” a resident shouted.

Hawaiian GSA still operational

Airbridge Travel general manager Joel Aquino sent us a letter saying that while Hawaiian Airlines (HA) has decided to discontinue its Manila-to-Honolulu service because it was not commercially viable due to higher fuel costs and low fares, Airbridge will still be the general sales agent of HA in the Philippines.

Airbridge will continue to operate as HA is working with different airlines to connect passengers out of Taipei or Seoul onwards to Honolulu. Even cargo will still be accommodated. In fact, HA Cargo managing director Tim Strauss even wrote Airbridge Travel to express its satisfaction with the performance of the GSA as offline operations will commence in August after the last flight of HA for the Manila-Honolulu route.

EMotors gets DTI certification

The certification of EMotors from the Department of Trade and Industry and the Board of Investments as the Philippines’ “first and only” 100 percent Filipino-owned manufacturer of electric tricycles is very timely considering the increasing air pollution levels in many parts of the country that are exacerbating lung-related illnesses. Add to that the rising cost of gasoline which is driving up the prices of pork, fish and other food and commodities due to the infernal summer heat, resulting in increased production expenses.

A few months ago, the Senate already approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to grant incentives to manufacturers and importers of alternative fuel. Senate Bill 2856, sponsored by Sen. Ralph Recto, has been hailed by many groups who say the proposed measure will pave the way for “clean and green vehicles” that could eventually help lessen the country’s dependence on expensive fossil fuels.

In fact, Meralco has been on the lookout for partners to manufacture e-vehicles (jeepneys, tricycles and buses) and has been planning to put up charging stations for electric vehicles in response to the administration’s initiative to cut down not only on our dependence on imported oil products but to lessen air pollution in the country. We have been trying to get in touch with Meralco senior vice president for customer retail services and communications Al Panlilio to find out how soon these charging stations can be put up. Al Panlilio had earlier indicated that they’re looking at technology that would develop affordable fast-charging stations for the benefit of consumers.

The potential of electric vehicles is gaining traction in many parts of the world because of their potential to reduce emissions. New carbon efficiency and pollution standards are being issued for vehicles in many parts of the US and Europe specifically to cut down fuel consumption by as much as 1.5 million barrels per day. According to experts, motor vehicles guzzle up millions of liters of fuel with thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide emitted into the air by the hour. Technology is really moving towards the development of vehicles that would run on environment friendly and alternative fuels, and hopefully, more manufacturers will invest in these types of vehicles.

E-Motors CEO Beth Lee was Universal Motors CEO and Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) president. She has now “moved on with her life.”

Spy tidbit

SM Supermalls is conducting its sixth annual job fair in all its malls nationwide in time for Labor Day celebrations tomorrow, with over 200,000 job vacancies from companies, placement agencies, government offices and SM mall tenants. An estimated 80,000 applicants will be trooping to the job fair which is being held in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment, the Statistics office and the Public Employment Service offices of respective local government units. The yearly job fair is part of the SM Group’s corporate social responsibility projects and its contribution to the government’s program on job generation.

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