Globe network reaches 97% of RP population!

It has become an annual event for the Cebu and Mindanao media to attend Globe Telecom’s annual stockholders’ meeting. By inviting the media outside of Metro Manila to this annual corporate event, allow me to say that Globe Telecom is the first and only multinational company that believes that Manila is not the Philippines and the Philippines is not Manila. After all, Globe Telecom’s aggressive programs have now reached 97 percent of Filipinos.

The big news from Globe Telecom is that in 2005, it earned a net income of P10.3 billion, thanks largely to its aggressive infrastructure program, which has now reached 5,159 cell sites, allowing network coverage of 93 percent of all municipalities and reaching 97 percent of the Filipino population. That means only three percent of our people, those who live in the deepest forest or outlying islands are not within the reach of Globe. Thanks to Globe’s entry into the telecommunications industry, telephone density in the Philippines has increased from one percent in 1996 to 40 percent in 2005. Globe now has some 13 million subscribers.

In his speech, Globe CEO Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said that for 2006, Globe Telecom needs to reinvent itself to keep up with the competition… going into the next generation of cellphone technology, 3G, and VoIP so that Globe users would experience seamless coverage anywhere in the world.

During the meeting, someone asked how much damage has been done by the New People’s Army (NPA) to Globe cell sites because it was not mentioned in the annual report. Globe executives apparently do not want to give this issue some kind of prominence, but as Globe president Gerry Ablaza told us, some 50 Globe Telecom cell sites have been bombed and destroyed in the war waged by the NPA. When Ablaza said that this was due to fact that Globe continues to refuse to pay the NPA’s "revolutionary taxes," I asked him to comment on whether the other telecom companies were paying and he refused to answer that. Now why isn’t there a media outcry against this is something of a puzzlement for me and most of us in the media in the Visayas and Mindanao.

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My suggestion to fix this country and make it better got another positive reaction from a good friend, Prof. Fred Cabuang, who shares with me his own analysis… that this country, as we suggested, would have been better off if we copied or should I say completely copied the US political system, where we need only to add the federal states. Here’s his letter in full:

"Dear Bobit, With regards to federalism, I firmly agree with your article published last March 31. I have been a strong advocate of the US style of federalism since I participated in the 2003 Federalism Workshop of the Citizens Coalition for Charter Change Now (CCCCN) that drafted the proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution following the Joint Congressional Resolution No. 16 of the 13th Congress.

"Many of my colleagues believe that a large number of the provisions in the present Constitution were copied from the US Constitution. Presumably, the Philippine Islands in 1935 was headed toward a government style similar to the US in form and substance. The US is a ‘Republican’ country because it practices representative democracy. However, the ‘Republic’ of the Philippines does not practice ‘republicanism" like the US and yet it is called a ‘Republic.’ "‘Republicanism’ is a form of representative democracy that can only be relevant under federalism where ‘the same people and same territory are governed by at least two separate governments who share the responsibility of governance.’ (American Government, 2nd Ed, by Johnson & Aldrich.)

"Who are these two governments that share the responsibility to look after the welfare of the people? In the US, these two governments are the ‘Federal Government’ and the ‘State Government.’ The Philippines does not have this kind of government because it does not have federalism. At present, the Philippines has all the elements of governance that the US has like the three branches of government, the two Houses of Congress, the governors down to the mayors and the electorate. The only element missing is the ‘federal states.’ Could this be the ‘only’ missing element to make our Constitution finally work and be the only nation in the world to copy (again) the greatest and most powerful nation in the world? I will be with you all the way, Primo! Sincerely yours, Prof. Fred S. Cabuang, SOLFED Vice President"

Thanks once again to Prof. Cabuang for his insights. We’re in Manila for the annual Globe stockholders’ meeting with the top guns in the media from Cebu and Mindanao… and when we talk about politics, we are in unison that we all believe in a federal system of government. When the subject of parliamentary system is brought on the table… no one believes that it would solve our nation’s problems. It’s a federal system or nothing!

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Here’s a letter that was triggered by our article on ethanol last week:

"Good afternoon, Sir Bobit, I found your contact info in The Philippine STAR through your article about CNN’s episode on ethanol. By the way, it was so interesting. The reason I wrote is that I want to invite you to our event in Leyte. Below is our invitation: On behalf of Bosch, we wish to invite you to the world premiere of the first stove powered entirely by plant oil. The premiere will be held from April 5 to 9 in Baybay, Leyte.

"In order to contribute to sustainable development in developing countries, BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH worked together with scientific and environmental partners to design and build an innovative plant oil stove to generally conserve resources and protect the environment, create jobs, and ease everyday life. Plant oil, an alternative fuel, is cheap and abundant in many rural areas in developing countries unlike kerosene or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). It is burnt without harming human health and is carbon dioxide (CO2) neutral. The project is a concrete example of climate protection with the aim of protecting health and maintaining biodiversity.

"In cooperation with the Leyte State University, the plant oil cooking stove is currently being tested by selected Filipino households in both rural and poor urban areas. The high-tech stove will be unveiled to Filipino journalists and 10 German journalists through conversations with villagers, farming cooperatives, scientists, engineers, development experts, and conservationists, and tours to a cooperative and a newly constructed plant oil production facility. Until then, we do hope to enjoy the pleasure of your company. Yours sincerely, Al Dimapilis, EON Stakeholder Relations Firm [email protected]"

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.