Box O' Rice

Box-o-rice menu:

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Jose P. Rizal readings

PI 100 notes:

• The Council of the Gods (Sanggunian ng mga Diyus-Diyosan) by Jose P. Rizal
  
• Beside the Pasig (Sa Tabi ng Pasig) by Jose P. Rizal
  
• Tasio El Filosofo and Padre Florentino: An Inquiry Into Rizal's Prophetic Vision by Raul J. Bonoan, S.J.
• The Noli Me Tangere as Catalyst of Revolution by John N. Schumacher, S.J.
• Veneration Without Understanding by Renato Constantino
  

Computerized elections, a microcosm

Today, let's approach T.I.P on a micro-scale. My professor in Social Science 1 claimed that one can see Philippines in a microscopic view by looking at the University of the Philippines. To some extent, we are a unique in the world. Our education is "mostly" funded by the government. We live in an open campus that is a mixture of squatters, students, and professors. The students come from all backgrounds: very poor, middle class, and the sons of tycoons. The political background is also like what you can see on the outside: left, right, and the apathetic. We have our own share of violence (specifically frat wars). The crimes that happen in Philippine communities are also present here: holdups, carnaps, kidnapping, theft, corruption, and many to mention. If one wants to experience the Philippines, it is right here, at the heart of Diliman.


Now, let's try to peek at the white hat. Youth is usually equated with idealism. The phrases that expound it are "youth on fire" or "youthful fervor". Idealism with action can materialize a lot of useful thoughts. At the end of the day it's not the 100% idea, but that is because it is ideal-ism. I'll give you one example: just today, the UP Linux Users' Group (UnPLUG) has just implemented a very succesful Engineering Student Council (ESC) elections using our homegrown software. This is the product of idealism of a group of students with a vision to see the elections computerized. Here are some stats from Wigi:

Voting time for ESC: around 1:45 - 1:50 mins
Voters: 1800+
Turn-out: ~50.26 %
Results: immediately after closing the polls

Halalan, is an open-source voting system geared towards online and SMS-enabled elections. If you have been reading the news, Halalan won in the "Best plans for FOSS (free and open source software) deployment project on new server for community benefit" category in the Software Freedom Day 2006 competition. UnPLUG shared the spotlight with Ceres, a Disaster Prevention and Rapid Response Network system from Peru's Team Cultura Libre. For winning, the UnPLUG received an IBM System p5 510 Express Server worth $8800.

Our aim is to computerize the whole elections by next year. We make each stride a little bigger. The developers encountered a lot of problems, and surprisingly these problems are not technical in nature. Recall T.I.like.P (this is like Philippines), we have to go through the politics of convincing parties and the administration to computerize the elections. I will not go through the issues of computerization. Most will agree that computerization is a lot of savings in terms of cost, manpower and efficiency. National elections is another talk. But just like how we described UP as a microcosm of the Philippines, today's election is also a microcosm of the National Elections. Most people will shun it because it not the usual thing. The usual thing is ballots, papers, and ink. Politicians will dislike it. It is more expensive and difficult to hire a professional computer intruder. The traditional and cheaper way is to hire a COMELEC commissioner (e.g. Garci).

We were not paid to do the software but our consolation is to see how students see the Halalan as a bliss. The Engineering students will attest to it. A few clicks, and before the sun sets, the election results are up. Creating a free and open (meaning you can download the source code) software for the community is another form of idealism. The most common form is shouting/protesting in the "parliament" of streets. As for the national scale, there is the "people power" and the violent form of it, which is mutiny/Coup d'Etat.

There are still a lot of issues to tackle if this system is implemented in a wider scale such as the university-wide elections. Strike hard while the iron is still hot. We are the hope of the fatherland, blah! blah! blah! For now, we just write the code and ignore the big politics.

Like Venice

Venice is world-famous for its canals. The Pasig River is a river in the Philippines and connects Laguna de Bay (via the Napindan Channel) into Manila Bay. The river is called Ilog Pasig in Filipino. It stretches for 25 kilometers and divides Metro Manila into two. Its major tributaries are the Marikina River and San Juan River. The river used to be a transport route just like the canals in Venice, but due to pollution, it has been declared dead by ecologists.

The rehabilitation was started under former President Fidel Ramos. The project was known as The Pasig River Rehabilitation Project (PRRP). The comedian and actor president Joseph Estrada renamed it to Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC). T.I.P., abbreviations make a difference. However, the project made significant strides. I have not seen the entire channel but as far as Guadalupe is concerned, they have made parks beside the river to create public awareness. Steps were done to stop industries from dumping their wastes into the river. They relocated the families who were living along the river for years. The river is now mainly used for transport, mostly cargo.

A recent project spearheaded by the PRRC, DOTC, and MMDA is to use the ferry as a public transport, codenamed The Pasig River Ferry Service Project. I am involved in the project as an "engineer behind the scenes". My company wrote the backend software that collects all data from the different stations, merge them into documents that can show different statistics. As of the latest commit of our software, there are 11 stations in all: Plaza Mexico, Escolta, Quezon Bridge, PUP, Sta. Ana, Lambingan Bridge, Valenzuela, Hulo / Poblacion, Guadalupe, San Joaquin, and Sta. Elena. The service was soft-launched last February 1 and opened to the public.

In the field, I've seen a lot of reality. On one side of the river, there's a man holding an electric rod used to shock the fish. It's a good thing because it means the river is coming back to life. On the other side of the river, there's a kid taking a dump. In a way, this is a dim picture: the river with life in today's generation, and the younger generation (the kid) pissing on it.

The Pasig River is not just any river because aside from its potential benefit as major transport route linking some of the major cities in Metro Manila, it is a thermometer of how we manage our natural resources amidst urbanization.

Slashed

I find it too basic how simple choices can transform or even end our lives. For example, few years ago a family friend who is a surgeon died in a plane crash because she opted to do an operation which is not part of her itinerary. She could have been in an earlier flight if she said no. Yesterday, I had an option to order food by phone and drop the laundry on Sunday, but I chose to go out on a Friday evening. My new pants was slashed on a Friday evening on a jeep going to Philcoa. The robber did NOT get anything.

I'm not going to write about the experience because the people who have been through this kind of misfortune know it is harrowing and traumatic. There is nothing you can do to avoid this kind of events given the state of our country, but there are 2 things to minimize/avoid loss of: life and property.

These are my observations on how to avoid losing your life and property in an event of a slashing or holdup:

1. Always keep a "fake" wallet. A fake wallet is a wallet with some money inside it with fake cards. It should be placed in your pocket at all times. In the event of a holdup, give the fake wallet immediately to make you appear a willing giver.

2. Do NOT mention of your cellphone. If he has NOT seen your cellphone [which is to be secured according to item 5] and asks for it, tell him you don't have one because you just got held up and your phone was taken.

3. Do NOT do item 2 when you are the lone victim and they are NOT in a hurry because your bag is likely to be inspected. There are insane robbers who will kill thinking that lying is more heinous than robbing.

4. Keep a "fake" phone if you can afford one. A fake phone is a phone that you will place in your bag (what's the cheapest phone in the market?) and the one that you are going to give if he demands for a cellphone. It is NOT to be placed near your expensive phone, which brings us to item 5:

5. Your treasured phone should be kept in a special compartment. This compartment should be unreachable in an event of a slashing. It should NOT be situated on the sides or on the bottom but on the center and suspended.The blade is most likely to strike the bottom and the sides.

6. Always bring a bag for your cellphone and valuables. A bag is NOT a pouch.

7. Be vigilant when you are in heavy load (i.e bringing more than 1 bag) and in a hurry. They are most likely to strike when you are in this situation. I committed a grave error when I placed the sports bag horizontally with my body. Bags that cover the length of your lap should be placed vertical with your body. This will allow VISIBILITY of your side pockets. Just remember to be vigilant when in heavy load and in a hurry.

8. The golden rule in this kind of situation is to value life more than property. Money is a renewable resource but life is NOT. (the one thing I learned from nanay)

9. If you decide to strike, strike hard to KILL because these people will NOT hesitate to kill when they are in danger. This means that you are only in a position to fight back when you have NO other choice (in a situation when you are mostly likely to be killed) OR when you have a weapon that kills. (the one thing I learned from ROTC)

10. Keep your personal ID's in an ATM card holder (or driver's license holder). Put fake cards in the fake wallet.

Disclaimer: This is not a professional advice from a crime specialist.

Blog launch

This is the first post. I am officially launching this blog, inspired by the abbreviation for "This is Africa" (TIA). Filipinos are a unique people. What is culture if it is not unique. We have our own stupidities and nobilities. This blog documents some of them.

* T.I.A. is a cynical mantra Danny and his fellow mercenaries drop around in the movie "Blood Diamond". This is Philippines (tm) is a minor ripoff from Michael Tan's Pinoy kasi!