Shooting straight

For our special presentation tonight on our talkshow on SkyCable’s Straight from the Sky, we bring you a new concept connecting high-technology like a cellular telephone into business tools that promote productivity. This is Globe Telecom’s NEGOSTAR which targets Small and Medium-sized Entrepreneurs all over the country; after all, the Philippines has already a deep telecommunications penetration, where the majority of Filipinos already have cellphones.

 With us tonight is my good friend, Manny Aligada, Globe Telecom’s Head of Corporate and SME Segments at Globe Business. Manny pointed out that they held a NEGOSTAR Fair at the City Sports which was very successful as he pointed out that 99.6% of all businesses in this country are SMEs. Indeed, not all of businesses in this country are the Ayalas, the SMs or the SMCs. Most of us are small and medium scale and the bigger majority are dubbed micro businesses.

 So watch this very interesting and highly technological show with Manny Aligada on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm tonight and learn more about improving one’s business using the tools that Globe Telecom provides. Globe has become, in effect, your business advisors and eventually your partner.

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 China is increasing its military budget by 12% of its Gross National Product (GNP), which means China has embarked on a huge military spending. This should be a major concern for us in this country especially when last Thursday two Chinese Navy gunboats reportedly harassed a research vessel M/V Venture owned by the Department of Energy (DoE). In response to that harassment, Armed Forces Western Command (Westcom) Lt. Gen. Juancho Sabban confirmed this incident that happened on the Reed bank 250 kilometers west of Palawan.

 This area is part of the Kalayaan Group in the disputed Spratlys, which is claimed not only by the Philippines, but also by Vietnam, Malaysia and China. But in truth, we are the closest to this island group; we have more right over the Spratlys than any other nation making those claims. Of course everyone wants to claim the Spratlys because of its potential for oil. I really don’t know why until now, this issue has not been resolved at the level of the United Nations (UN).

 Meanwhile this incident only reveals how ill-quipped is the Philippine Navy. Hopefully, it would jolt the Aquino Administration to embark on a massive construction of Navy Patrol boats that we in Cebu can manufacture. With some 20,000 or so Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) coming home without any prospects for a job, this is what this country ought to be doing. Alas the Aquino government is still on its “on-the-job-training” mode.

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 After a lot of bad publicity we’ve been getting in the international news scene, like the Aug. 23 hostage fiasco, the Philippines was finally featured last Saturday at 9am by the BBC’s program called Explore in a two-part series. It was a sort of Tourism show that showed the beauty and the ugliness of the Philippines. Presenter Simon Reed featured the Ifugao Rice Terraces and then he drove off to Metro Manila showing how heavily overpopulated it is and commenting how Filipinos in the hinterlands trooped to the urban centers in search for a better life.

 Kathya Alder went to the Manila North Cemetery to show how many Manilans who live in poverty live within the tombs and mausoleums, which the BBC reporter says were graveyard dwellers. She estimated that some 10,000 live there. She even showed how grave dwellers opened a tomb so it could be readied for another dead person. This is why I said it was a sort of “Tourism” show because it also showed the ugly side of Manila.

 That BBC documentary was probably done a year ago during the time of the Black Nazarene celebration, which Simon Reed also featured. He had a vantage view from the top of Quiapo Church showing the mass of humanity in Plaza Miranda. Then he proceeded to interview Imelda Marcos in her high-rise suite overlooking the Manila Golf Club. Her suite showed a lot of luxury items, paintings and gold figurines (although she didn’t have a golden Buddha). Imelda even gave the presenter a power point presentation on how to end poverty in the Philippines.

 Simon Reed also featured the human rights violations done in this country and even interviewed former Gen. Jovito Palparan and questioned his human rights record. In the end, Reed admitted that atrocities were committed on both sides of the conflict. Then they were off to Palawan to feature the Badjaos. From Palawan, they moved to Bohol giving special attention to the Tarsier. Then from there, BBC went to Mindanao to give the BBC viewers the Bangsamoro ideology, why they consider themselves not a part of the Philippines and why we have a Muslim question in Mindanao.

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