Computation mistake is a serious thing in a 7 billion worth counting project
Smartmatic attributes it to “computation mistake”, thus:
“An official of Smartmatic, one-half of the consortium that automated this year’s elections, on Thursday said computation mistake was the reason why the number of registered voters in the canvassing of votes was excessively higher than in the official Commission on Elections (Comelec) record… In a chance interview with reporters, Smartmatic-Asia president Cesar Flores said the computer added the number of registered voters coming from three servers, in the process also multiplying the number of voters by three.” (from GMANews.tv)
Now, let us do the simple arithmetic ourselves based on the above explanation and data found in Comelec website and in the news item itself: (more…)
Click here for photos of the 3-day caravan and protest rallies in Bicol as Bicolanos oppose the continuing Balikatan military exercises and want the Visiting Forces Agreement scrapped. The caravan was held from Feb. 23 to 25. Partylist representatives like Rep. Satur Ocampo, Rep. Liza Maza and Rep. Rafael Mariano and Senator Jamby Madrigal were speakers at the grand rally in Legazpi City on February 25.Book launching of Vols 1 and 2 of the Selected Works of Jose Maria Sison
Aklat ng Bayan, Inc. held a book launching of Volumes 1 and 2 in a 4-volume series of the selected writings of Jose Ma. Sison from 1991 to 2008 on February 19, 2009 at the Isabelo de los Reyes Auditorium, School of Labor and Industrial Relations) Bonifacio Hall, UP Diliman.
■ Click here for photos, video and text of the launching by Aklat ng Bayan of volumes I and II of the Selected Writings of Jose Ma. Sison (1991-2009), UP Diliman campus, Feb. 19, 2009
Reopening the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant
Senator Miriam Santiago and Rep. Mark Cojuango have filed bills that seek to rehabilitate and operate the 23-year old mothballed Bataan Nuclear power plant in Morong Bataan.
It will be recalled that Marcos started the construction of the plant in 1976 and completed it in 1984. But the Cory administration did not see it fit to operate it although it continued to pay the bill, which totalled $2.3 billion when finally paid up in 2997.
For photos and various articles on the BNPP, go to
Morong, Bataan – Rushing to reopen the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, Jan. 22, 2009o
Multi-sectoral and interfaith rally vs Charter Change
Ayala Avenue in Makati City was filled with rallyists protesting the plan of the Arroyo government to amend the Constitution, which is seen as simply a pretext to continue in power beyond 2010.
For photos and statements, go to the Arkibong Bayan website.
Blog Action Day 2008 on Poverty
Bloggers Kapihan has designated today, Oct. 15, as Blog Action Day 2008 and invited bloggers to discuss the issue of poverty in their blogs.
So we present here a video clip from the 1976 film SAKADA by Behn Cervantes. We like this clip because it conveys well the message that all of us already know: that poverty in this country is an example of the wrong application of the mathematics of division to the distribution of wealth produced by the workers and the farmers.
Click here for the link to the video clip
Commemorating the 110th birth anniversary of Sen. Lorenzo Tañada
The 110th birth anniversary of the great nationalist Sen. Lorenzo Tanada was commemorated last August 10 by BAYAN, his family and friends.
To see the photos at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, please visit this link:
http://www.arkibongbayan.org/2008-08Aug10-tanada110th/tanada110th.htm
Math ng isang taxi driver
Napasakay kami ng taxi dahil marami kaming karga.
LPGas-driven ang naflagged down namin na taxi at binibida nga ng driver
na mas mura ang gastos niya. Nagpakarga siya sa LGP-gas station sa
Visayas ng 10 litro, P31.33 per liter. Mga
kalahati ito ng gastos kung gasoline o diesel.
Nang tumatakbo na, tinanong ko siya kung ilang litro sa isang araw ang gamit niya. 40 litro daw. Kaya mga 1,200 pesos. Mga 8-10 km bawat litro.
Tinanong ko kung magkano ang VAT na binayad niya. Sagot ay 12%. Nag
mental arithmetic at dinagdag na mga P140 pala ang binibigay niiya sa
gobyerno bilang VAT.
Sa isang buwan, magkano yun?, tanong ko. Sagot niya:”Aba, mga apat na
libo din yun!” at medyo napamura pa. Laki daw pala ang nakakaltas sa
kanya ng @#$%^& gobyerno ni Gloria.
Eh, baka uminit pa ang ulo at mabangga kami, binalita ko na may mga
grupo at mga congressmen naman ang gumagawa ng mga paraan para maalis
ang VAT sa oil na bago 2006 ay wala naman noon. Pwede rin siyang sumali
sa PISTON para makasama siya sa mga pagkilos nito laban sa VAT.
Nang medyo ayos na, tinanong ko uli kung magkano naman ang bayad niya sa kuryente…..at umandar ang usapan tulad ng sa LPGas.
Powerful talaga ang science of mathematics sa pagunawa sa mga isyu.
Subukan ninyo next time na mag-jeep o taxi kayo pero imoderate lang
ninyo at baka mabangga kayo 😉
People’s SONA 2008 in Manila, Mindanao, USA, Canada
Photos and documents on the People’s SONA in Metro Manila, Mindanao, Canada and the USA can be viewed by clicking here:
- Burning Arroyo’s effigy at the People’s SONA, July 28, 2008
Public, not the rich, pays 90% of VAT on power, oil
-
Using government data, Ramon Ramirez, an electrical engineer and spokesperson of People Opposed to Warrantless Electricity Rates, concluded that the poor pays for 90 percent of the VAT on oil and power Read article
Katas ng VAT for the poor: the data and the math
“”It’s easy to understand why many would want to see taxes on oil and electricity removed. [But] if [the] VAT on oil and power is lifted, how do we replace about P80 billion in revenues, mostly used for the poor?
“Won’t scrapping the VAT on energy benefit mainly the well-to-do, who consume 84 percent of oil and 90 percent of power, while depriving the poor of billions [of pesos] in programs now funded by VAT?”
—GMArroyo, Inquirer, July 18, 2008 (more…)
Video documentary on the State of S&T in the Philippines
AGHAM (Advocates of Science and Technology for the People) posted on the YouTube this documentary video which was first released in mid-2006. The video comes in 4 parts in these urls:
Students walked out of their classrooms….
…. to attend alternative classrooms in the streets of Manila and elsewhere. You can see photos of the activities in these links:
http://www.arkibongbayan.org/2008-07July18-YouthRally/walkoutjuly18.htm
http://www.arkibongbayan.org/2008-07July18-YouthRally/uplb%20quezon.htm
HTML clipboard http://www.arkibongbayan.org/2008-07July18-YouthSMR/youthsmrjuly18.htm
Quote for the day, July 23, 2008
“We have already suffered and sacrificed for seven years,
what is two years?”
— Sen. Francis Escudero, referring to the GMA regime
The answer to Escudero’s question can be derived from
Einstein’s theory of relativity. (more…)
Cost-effective jeepney operations at a time of high oil price
Diesel now costs P54.50 per liter with the jeepney minimum fare at P8; it was P26 when the minimum fare was raised to P7.50.
The cost of diesel increased by 110% while the minimum fare, by 6%. Inflation is now a double-digit figure and the prices of basic commodities are much higher. Ramdam ang kahirapan, never mind that the tarpaulin posters of Arroyo say “Ramdam ang Kaunlaran.”.HTML clipboard Click here for a photo of the poster (more…)
Aklan and Iloilo after Typhoon Frank
To view photos and video clips of the devastation wrought by Typhoon Frank(Fengshen) in the island of Panay, go to www.arkibongbayan.org or directly to this webpage.:
Letter of a Math teacher to a graduating student
The student’s grade in Math was in danger and could cause her not to graduate that semester. If you were the teacher, what would you have done?
————
From:
http://peyups.com/article.khtml?sid=4374
Letter to a Graduating Student
Contributed by aaliyah (Edited by arwen)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 @ 10:53:06 PM
Dear Miss De Leon,
Although it is about you, you may not understand everything this letter is going to say. I admit this is more for my benefit than yours, but one thing I’m sure of, is that I need to write this, if I am to go on living freely, if I am to forgive, if I am to fall asleep again at night. (more…)
By the numbers: state of RP education
1. Enrollment
1995 to 2002 — enrollment grew at an average rate of 1.98% yearly
2003 to 2008 — enrollment declining at an average rate of 1% yearly (more…)
Quote for the day, June 16, 2008
— Harry Potter author JK Rowlings in her Commencement Address to the graduates of Harvard University
That is not really the best point in this fine commencement address but I quoted it because it is a line that every engineer like myself will quickly grasp without any need for a rereading which we often do as a result of reading the fine prints of a construction specs. (more…)
Serve the People UP alliance on iskolar ng bayan
They were called “iskolar ng bayan” because a substantial part of their schooling was paid for by the people’s taxes. In gratitude, they were supposed to be “iskolar para sa bayan” and were to use their knowledge and skills to benefit the people. (more…)
Mandated discounts and subsidies
The EPIRA law requires that those they call the “lifeliners” who consume 100kwh or less of electricity are given discounts ranging from 20% to 50% by the distribution utilities like Visayan Electric and Meralco. (more…)
Guest blog on Winston Garcia/GSIS
From:
http://www.uniffors.com/?p=1511
I saw Winston Garcia, the hand puppet of Bonnie and Clyde, on TV claiming that if he were to take over Meralco he would bring down the price of electricity within one or two months and, if he couldn’t, he would resign.
Hmmm…eh why stop with Meralco? Why not take over Visayan electric, Davao electric and all the electric cooperatives nationwide? (more…)
Juday’s yeloss
Nakatutuwa naman itong ad para sa Meralco ni Juday, da popular aktres, upang ipaliwanag in less than 1 minute ang masalimuot na usapin ng “system loss”.
Tama si Juday — may “system loss” nga dahil natutunaw ang yelo kaya pagdating mo sa bahay ay maliit na yong binili mong yelo. (more…)
Quote for the day, June 5, 2008
“I ordered the Regulatory Board to approve the reduction of toll fees at the NLEX for all types of vehicles passing there.”
— GMArroyo
No similar order was made for the SLEX (Southern Luzon Expressway).
The concessionaire of the NLEX is the Manila North Tollways Corporation, a member of the Lopez Group, the same Lopezes that manage the Meralco.
Sayang, sana ang mga Lopezes din ang concessionaires ng SLEX, Manila Water, Maynilad, TRANSCO (which was won by the Razon group, identified with the Arroyos), etc. Then GMA can order a reduction of their fees 😉
Regulate the grid!
TRANSCO, the state-owned national transmission company which controls and maintains the power grid, has a net income of at least 1.2 billion pesos a month.
Now, there is a report of a fellow electrical engineer — a young 2004 graduate — which says that TRANSCO is passing on a 2.98% system loss of its own to Meralco, which presumably passes it on to us, its ultimate consumers. This could probably explain the P2.5 billion that Meralco says is its under-recoveries from TRANSCO charges from August 2007 to March 2008, which presumably it will collect from its consumers. (more…)
Take or pay, the Telcos’ version
We have been complaining of the “take or pay” provision in the contracts of the independent power producers (IPPs) with Napocor and Meralco. But we have not complained as much against the same provision imposed on us by the telcos. (more…)
Quote for the day, June 1, 2008
“THE MINIMUM AMOUNT THAT A FAMILY of five living in the National Capital Region should earn nowadays to stay out of poverty is at least P10,000 a month, or over 16 percent more than what was required two years ago, according to the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB)…… The NSCB earlier reported that 26.9 percent of Filipino families were poor in 2006”.
— Inquirer news
The P10,000 requirement is based on a family of 5. That means P67 per day per person. If you do not have that much money per day to sustain yourself, then you belong to the “blessed are the poor…”
Now, if you have P67 per day, you don’t belong to the poor but you have an arithmetical problem: how to allocate P67 to have 3 meals a day (P20 per meal?), a roof on your head, and a shirt on your back and a few pesos for transportation. It is a tough math even for a genius like an Einstein.
Mon
Garcia passing on GSIS “system losses” to members
GSIS Manager Garcia has his own system loss to explain. As the teachers tell it:
“Through the premium-based policy, lost revenues of GSIS due to their failure to collect premium payments, failure of government agencies to remit premium payments, or due to corruption are recovered from GSIS members in the form of huge deductions from the retirement and other benefits due them…“This onerous policy is the centerpiece of the much-vaunted reforms introduced by Garcia in 2003, which he credits with transforming the GSIS into a profitable concern. This is also at the root of the widespread discontent among public school teachers and other members of the GSIS, since they know only to well that the profits of GSIS are being made at their expense.”
(more…)
Quote for the day, May 18, 2008
“First of all, what is important is the objective of the President to lower the power rate (for the benefit) of our countrymen. That’s the number one objective.”
— Deputy presidential spokesperson Anthony Golez, in a Inquirer report
Arroyo can make the initial first step: remove the EVAT taxes it slaps on the band of moving electrons called electricity
a) as it is generated by NAPOCOR and the IPPs
b) as it is being transmitted by TRANSCO over its high voltage transmission lines
c) as it is being distributed by DUs (like Meralco and Visayan Electric) until it reaches our homes. (more…)
The Meralco Electric Bill Equation
(based on April 2008 bill)
Let :
G = Generation charge
Gtx = Tax on Generation charge (more…)
Garcia kin are stakeholders in 2nd largest electric utility
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers today scored Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) President and General Manager Winston Garcia for failing to publicly disclose his family’s involvement in the Visayan Electric Company (VECO), the second largest private electric utility in the country. (more…)
“Garcia is using GSIS members’ funds to enrich Malacañang’s cronies”
“Garcia is using GSIS members’ funds to enrich Malacañang’s cronies”
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers today issued a statement denouncing Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) President and General Manager Winston Garcia’s bid to take control of Meralco, the country’s largest electric utility.
“It’s ironic that while hundreds of thousands of teachers and government employees, who are members of GSIS, are victimized daily by the unjust policies implemented under his watch, Garcia now has the gall to present himself as the champion of public interest in leading the takeover bid against Meralco,” said ACT chairperson Antonio Tinio. Public school teachers make up one-third of GSIS’s 1.6 million members. Since 2003, there has been widespread disgruntlement among GSIS members sparked by new policies introduced by Garcia, such as the premium-based policy. According to ACT, such policies unlawfully deprive members of their full benefits. (more…)
Power tax every step of the way to your home
Let us say you used 122 kwh of electricity last month.
1. A NAPOCOR or IPP plant produced that electricty.
Before it got out of the plant, you were slapped a tax of P62.50, or 51
centavos/kwh. (more…)
Math of the transport strike today
When the Arroyo government allowed jeepney drivers to collect P7.50 as the minimum fare a few years ago, diesel was at P26 per liter. Now diesel costs P42 and the minimum fare is still P7.50. The drivers take a cut in their earnings every time the price of diesel increases. (more…)
Articles on high power rates and EVAT
Here are two articles on power written in 2006 but which are still very relevant in the current debate on high power rates. The major points remain unchanged even if the quantitative data are those obtainining in 2006. We will update the data this weekend.
Ever increasing rates from the EPIRA:
A closer look at the electric power industry in the Philippines
BY DR. GIOVANNI TAPANG, ENGR. RAMON RAMIREZ, KIM GARGAR
Electric power is a basic service that is needed by households in everyday activities and is equally important for industries to operate. The failure of the government to provide electric power was evident when the country faced massive blackouts in the late 1980s and early 1990s due to a shortage of power supply. Download article here
E-VAT on Electricity: Short-circuiting the People’s Interest
BY MON RAMIREZ
Contributed to Bulatlat
Upon the passage of the Value Added Tax (VAT) law, the Arroyo administration assured the public that the imposition of VAT on power will have very minimal impact on our electric bill. True to its form, the Arroyo administration has been caught lying again with the latest electric bill. Download article here
Radio interview on high power rates
I was interviewed last May 6 by radio station DZAS on the issue of high power rates. It was a 15-minute interview but only the last 11 minutes were recorded.
“A tax on a tax?”: POWER questions VAT implementation on power rates
News Release
May 7, 2008
³A tax on a tax?”
POWER questions VAT implementation on power rates
The consumer group People Opposed Warrantless Electricity Rates (Power) today assailed the Value Added Tax on power rates saying this has given rise to “unjust and outrageous” tax burdens on the people.”
Power convenor Engr. Ramon Ramirez questioned the application of the VAT on items such as the franchise tax and systems losses. (more…)
Systems loss/EVAT: reducing our electric bill by 19% in an instant
We read in the papers complaints that Meralco and all the other distribution utilities charge their customers for the system losses — loss of electricity due to pilferage and technical and administrative inefficiencies. (more…)
Iskolar ng Bayan: Two Graduation Rites
For some reasons I had to attend two graduation rites: one at NCPAG on April 25 and another at the College of Engineering the following day.
At the entrance to the NCPAG, one sees this huge billboard announcing the name of the college with this in caps: “PAGLINGKURAN ANG SAMBAYANAN” (or Serve the People).
The graduating students of NCPAG were correctly referred to as “iskolar ng bayan” by their professors. Their commencement speaker, UP Century Man Engr. Fernando Javier had a message for them:”As Iskolar ng Bayan, continue to impact upon the lives of others, especially those in need.” (more…)
Missing the point about the Makati standoff
A contribution to MabuhayRadio.com
There are text messages and emails going around that are jokes about the Manila Pen standoff. I myself joked about it by texting a message that said a better slogan should have been “Mag-martsa sa Mendiola, hindi mag-check-in sa Manila Pen”. (more…)
Engineering the Curriculum: Preparing the Student for Life
Contributed for the UPAE Ingenium 2007
Since its establishment on June 13, 1910 the U.P. College of Engineering has regularly reviewed the curricula of the various courses and has made changes where appropriate. But it was during the long deanship of Dr. Vidal A. Tan, the first Filipino Dean of the College of Engineering from 1940 to 1949, when the groundwork for including social science and humanities subjects in the engineering curriculum was initiated. (more…)
Vidal Tan’s Original Manuscript
Engineering Education
By Dean Vidal A. Tan
Philippine Collegian, Graduation issue, 1941
Graft raps filed vs Napocor execs
Written by Gerry Baldo, Daily Tribune
Militant groups under the umbrella organization Peo-ple Opposed to Warrantless Electricity Rates (Power) have filed before the Office of the Ombudsman graft charges against officials of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) in connection with the alleged purchase of overpriced coal amounting to hundreds of millions of pesos. (more…)
Defensor: “This is when we’ve done somethng good”
An Email
Majority floor leader Art Defensor was already in the College of Law when I entered the University College at UP Diliman in 1961. I remember him well because he boarded at Rm 124 of Mayon (now Narra) Residence Hall, a room opposite Rm 125 where I boarded for ten pesos a month (which was a big amount then because the daily wage was P4). He was a good student, studious and possessed of good character and conduct that everybody would say he would be a very good lawyer and public servant later. (more…)
Latest COA audit of DepEd and the CyberEd project
An email
This is the same DepEd that wants to have the $465 million (P21.7 biillion) Cyber-Ed Project. And yet, as the COA audit report says, it cannot even manage effectively such simple tasks as writing and delivering textbooks and using and maintaining computers. (more…)
Re: SONA2007 photos
An email reply
Demonstrations are not new. Even before the election of the partylist congressmen, demonstrations like these have been going on—during the Marcos years, Cory and all the presidents since then. A rally is an occasion to ventilate issues through placards, streamers, speeches, street plays and the like. It is one form shrine in the Constitution, freedom of assembly, for redress of grievances by the citizens. Isn’t it a fine thing that people would still try to redress grievances via demonstrations with the hope that the authorities would be prodded to act on them rather than take the law into their own hands? (more…)
For Ochie Baes
An email
When I read the text message on the passing away of Ochie I wondered why I possibly missed receiving a text message informing everyone that he was confined at the Lung Center. We could have visited him. (more…)
Notes on electric coops
An electric coop (or REC, or rural electric cooperative, the legal nomenclature used) is owned and managed by the consumers who are also its members who elect the members of the board and appoint a GM to manage its day-to-day operation. (more…)
Take Full Control of the Coop
An Email for the Northern Dispatch Editors & Readers (more…)
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