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Apples, Oranges and Noodles

Friday, July 3, 2009

Malaya (07/03.09)

“Before you get caught up by the mob mentality that got the Senator and pretender to the Presidency, immediately screaming graft and corruption, you should first examine all the facts.” 

by Ducky Paredes

No, this piece is not about a new fad diet; rather, it is about another silly issue that one of our honorable and esteemed Senator has taken up  – Department of Education (DepEd) using its noodles for something other than nutrition.

 What the Senate investigation is doing is using a philosophical fallacy called  “comparing apples and oranges,” which means that one gives equal weight to seemingly similar but are, in reality, completely different things,

For instance: if one bought a the Chinese cheapie car Chery for P1 million pesos, that would be absurdly expensive, but if you bought a 2009 BMW 7-series for the same price, it would be a steal.

So how does all of this relate to the DepEd’s allegedly “overpriced” noodles?

Asks Senator Mar Roxas, who could (if his Liberal Party gets lucky) become our next President, why is the DepEd buying noodles at P22, when I can buy this at the corner store for P5.00? Aha, there must be an overprice!

Of course the presidentiable would be right if the DepEd paid P22 for a 50-gram pack of noodles that only had flour and powdered egg as ingredients, needed to be cooked before it became edible, and did not include any delivery and handling fees; then yes, that’s expensive.

But what if what the DepEd bought was a 100-gram pack of special noodles, fortified with iron and other vitamins, enriched with fresh eggs and malunggay, packed in special food-grade material, did not need to be cooked in order to be eaten, and most importantly, included the delivery and handling fees to 376 school districts in 13 nutritionally-challenged provinces all over our 7,107 islands?  What, then?

This is the same senator who has been promising us cheaper medicines four years running  – a tradpol promise that may never be fulfilled 

The senator might understand the disparate costs if one bought a food item from his family’s Gateway Mall for P8 and sent it to some starving child in Tawi-Tawi. What then would be the total cost?

Instead, his Senate Committee on Education and the Ombudsman ignores this and seems not to consider the additional ingredients in the DepEd package.

As for Kolonwel Trading Industries, the supposed “whistle-blower” of this whole overpricing incident? It is obvious to me that Kolonwel is a trading firm. How can one miss that when its name so boldly declares the nature of the firm? Thus, even if it had gotten a piece of that DepEd noodles contract, Kolonwel would not be manufacturing the product, Kolonwel would only have contacted a manufacturer and then added its “tongpats” to the item and collected this from DepEd. Besides, it never even bid on this contract. Kolonwell is a mere “middleman,” someone who, if one wants to get a bargain, one eliminates from the equation. Kolonwel lives off its connections with government. Its bids were also never on food items but for such as polyethylene plastic bags, 18-carat memento rings, playing cards and such.

In fact, a quick visit to the company’s website (www.kolonwel.com) states that the company is “actively engaged in the international distribution of gaming supplies and equipment to the Gaming Industry worldwide”, offering a “wide range of customizable products ranging from Casino Playing cards, slot machines, gaming table layouts and gaming chips and plaques to name a few.” Conspicuously absent from this list is noodles.

What happened was that Kolonwel came across bid documents for the DepEd noodle project. It then asked for an extension of the bidding deadline. Of course! After al, it needed extra time to find a supplier that could meet the special DepEd specs. When no extension of the bidding deadline was forthcoming, Kolonwel dropped out and did not submit a bid.

After the DepEd awarded the contract to Jeverps Manufacturing Corporation (a company whose core business is manufacturing noodles), Kolonwel raised a howl. Why? What was Kolonwel complaining about?  Aside from the fact that it did not even submit a bid, it never categorically stated that it could manufacture and supply the noodles that conform to the exact specifications of the DepEd and at a price lower than that quoted by Jeverps. All it did was to cry “overprice” to media, and given the seemingly bloated price of P22 for what seems to be what one can buy at any sari-sari store, of course, it made the headlines. But, why would someone who wants to be President not have the sense to see the difference between the DepEd noodles and the Sari-sari store variety?

When the dispute finally reached the Senate (of course it reached our Senate, that involves itself even in private sexual matters), Kolonwel presented a highly suspect “certification” it supposedly obtained from testing agencies in Vietnam and Singapore, proving that the noodles Jeverps provided to the DepEd contained nothing but flour and egg powder.

But, Kolonwel missed one small yet important detail, which is that, since being awarded the contract; Jeverps had not produced a single pack of noodles for the DepEd. Not yet, anyway, on the day that the tests were done! So where in the world did Kolonwel get the noodles it had tested? Oops? !??

Certainly, these were not the DepEd noodles.

Before you get caught up by the mob mentality that got the Senator and pretender to the Presidency, immediately screaming graft and corruption, you should first examine all the facts.

You guessed it right, it’s simply a matter of putting your noodle working properly.

* * *

“The naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie.” — Ann Landers

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hvp 07.02.09)

Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com

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Atienza’s DENR Reforms

Thursday, July 2, 2009

“If he can cut down the time for processing certificates and licenses, Atienza’s ratng can only move up even higher.”

by Ducky Paredes

Line agencies of the government must find ways of being more useful to their stakeholders and be more service oriented. For instance, there is something wrong with the system when citizens must line up to pay their taxes. In more advanced societies, payment of taxes is made easier. Anyone who has lived abroad knows that tax payments are mailed in and drivers’ licenses are mailed to the driver on renewal.
Among the line agencies that have been getting a lot of complaints about red tape is the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Un-issued and delayed clearances and certificates from the DENR that one needs for starting up certain businesses will often delay a start-up by several months.
On June 24, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza inaugurated the new DENR building in Koronadal City. In his message to DENR local officials and employees on that day, Lpito spoke of a new  Department policy direction that would move the DENR toward effective and efficient protection of the country’s environment and proper management of natural resources to benefit all Filipinos, especially the poor and other marginalized sectors.
On Tuesday this week, Aienza held a meeting of DENR stakeholders. Lito told them how the new rules would affect them. Generally, things would go faster. Paperwork that once took even years to get through the red tape germane to the government bureaucracy would go quicker. For instance, an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) that used to take months to get through the DENR mill would be out within 20 days. In fact, for those that are non-sensitive such as exemptions to having a full ECC, one could get it in a day.
Atienza told the stakeholders that he knows that often they are told that their papers are on the Secretary’s desk and that they are not signed because Atienza has not been to his office, then, he said, you are told that he knows someone who can get the papers signed and that, for a spot of cash, he can get it done by tomorrow.
Lito said that he wants to stop graft and corruption in the DENR in order to make the DENR and its services available to all investors and all Filipinos as against just a few who can bribe their way through the bureaucracy of the DENR,
While. Because they pay their way through the processing those who were issued an ECC considered this as having passed a stringent test, once armed with the ECC, they felt that the piece of paper now allowed them to do with the environment as they pleased. Lito explained that while the DENR would fast-track the process, having an ECC only binds the company to help protect the environment, As for the DENR, its work would shift more on the side of making sure that those with ECCs are compliant with the what is expected of them as spelled out in theis ECCs.
From basically an agency that approves projects that are environment-sensitive, the DENR’s new role would be more in checking (together with NGOs and other stakeholders) whether these companies are in fact actually helping to protect the environment even as they take what they can from the natural riches of the country.
To me, as a citizen, this seems the right way to go.  Investors and businessmen who deal with the DENR have traditionally had only one complaint – it takes forever to get their approvals and ECCs from the DENR.
Here are the remarks that Lito made in Koronadal that outlines what he wants to do with the DENR:
“In a move to rid the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of corruption and hasten the flow of investment, I am calling for the immediate review of procedures and requirements in the issuance of environmental permits, including environmental compliance certificates (ECC).
“We need to hasten the process, simplify it, ease unnecessary requirements so that investors, both foreign and local, will eventually flow in upon getting the necessary clearances.
“This drastic streamlining that we will be doing will also remove occasions of graft and corruption and hasten the sustainable development of our natural resources. By streamlining processes in ECC acquisition and other requirements, we can help generate more investments and this will lead to more jobs for our fellow countrymen.
“It normally takes a year for an Environmental Compliance Certificate application to be approved, 17 weeks for mining permits and about three months for a Certificate of Non-Coverage. The ECC streamlining definitely cuts through all the red-tape and bureaucratic delays that companies experience in getting their ECCs approved.
“ECCs are part of the requirements for all development projects in the country as an assurance that the planning, construction and operations of these projects do not adversely affect the environment and human health.
“Presidential Decree No. 1586, which established the Philippine Environmental Impact Statement System, mandates that all environmentally-critical projects (ECPs) as well as projects that are located in environmentally-critical areas shall undergo thorough environmental impact assessment (EIA) to ensure the protection of the environment as well as the communities living within or near the project site.
“Such projects may include, for example, building a hydroelectric dam or factory, irrigating a large valley, or developing a harbor, which may generate impacts on flora, fauna, air quality, landscape and other features of the environment.
“Critical mine structures include tailings dams, waste dumps and small-scale mining areas, while geohazard areas refer to areas that are susceptible to landslides, floods, liquefaction, ground subsidence and other ground instabilities.
“Prior to the issuance of the ECC, project proponents are required to undertake an environmental impact assessment (EIA) to determine possible adverse environmental impacts of their proposed projects or activities and to come up with measures or strategies to reduce such impacts on the environment.”
From the responses that he received from some of the stakeholders – mostly from the BGOs and the academe – it will be some time before all of them will take to the new, faster, simpler and more stream-lined process as outlined by Lito Atienza.
As for the investors and those who are managing the mines and other projects tat are under the purview of the DENR, they can only agree that if the DENR can move faster on their requests and necessary paperwork, well and good. For the moment, they are waiting to see if Lito Atienza can actually tame the DENR bureaucracy to just do its job without waiting for their palms and fingers to be greased.
* * *
Even without the faster processing, DENR Secretary Lito Atienza continues to be numero uno in nationwide performance rating surveys among Cabinet officials done by the Asia Research Center in partnership with HKPH Public Opinion and Research.
Lito is followed by Tourism Secretary Ace Durano; third behind Durano are Health Sec. Francisco Duque, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, and Agriculture head Arthur Yap.
If he can cut down the time for processing certificates and licenses, Atienza’s ratng can only move up even higher.
* * *
“Yes, our greatness as a nation has depended on individual initiative, on a belief in the free market. But it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, of mutual responsibility. The idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we’re all in it together and everybody’s got a shot at opportunity. Americans know this. We know that government can’t solve all our problems - and we don’t want it to. But we also know that there are some things we can’t do on our own. We know that there are some things we do better together.” – Barack Obama
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hvp 07.01.09)

Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com

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Naudlot na Automation

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Deretsahan

ni Horacio Paredes

Unang-una, mali ang pananaw na kung ang ating hahalan ay “automated” o “computerized” na wala nang dayaan o kaya’y iba pang mga katarantaduhan na mangyayari, Ang mga makina ay maaaring tumulong na pabilisin ang proseso, ngunit, dahil tao pa rin ang nagpapatakbo ng mga makina, kaya pa rin nilang gamitin ang kahit na anumang machine sa kabutihan o sa kasamaan. Nasasa tao pa rin ang pasya kung ano ang mangyayari.
Sa pagbitiw ng TIM (Total Infrmation Management), isang kumpaniya ng pamilyang Aboitiz ng Cebu, sa kanilang samahan ng Smartmatic ng Barbados Island na nanalo sa bidding para sa P11.3 bilyon na pagpapaupa ng mga makinang dapat gamitin sa halalan sa 2010, lumilitaw na ang dahilan nito’y dahil mayroon palang inilalaan ang Smartmatic na malaking halaga – hanggang kalahating bilyon – para sa isang malaking tao sa pamahalaan na tumulong na ayusin ang Comelec upang Smartmatic na nga ang makakuha ng kontrata.
Sa ganitong pangyayari, talagang aayaw ang Pinoy na kumpaniyang ka-sosyo sa usapan. Papaano naman kasi sila kung pumalpak ang mga makina ng Smartmatic. Sa kontrata ng Comelec, ang mananalong bidder mismo ang mag-iimprenta ng balota at ang resulta’y lalabas sa makina pagkatapos ng botohan sa bawa’t presinto. Wala nang bilangan dahil nabilang na ng makina. Ito rin ay ipadadala ng makina sa sunod na paroroonan ng bilang – sa munisipyo or kapitolyo – at sa Comelec sa Maynila.
Kung napili ang Smartmatic dahil lamang sa mayroon itong malakas na kuneksyon sa pamahalaan, papaano naman ang kumpaniyang Pinoy (na kasosyso ng Smartmatic) pag pumalpak na ang mga makina ng Smartmatic.
Sa aking pananaw, mas mabuti na ang ganitong pangyayari. Balik muna tayo sa dati o kaya’y kung guato talagang magkaroon ng machine-count, bakit hindi gamitin na lamang ang mga makinang binili ng Comelec noong 2003 para sa 2004 na halalan na ayaw ipagamit noong 2004 ng Korte Suprema dahil natitiyak na hindi makakadaya ang pamahalaan noong 2004 kung nagamit ang mga ito.
Pumasa ang bawat makina sa pagsusuri ng Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Tiyak na uubra ang mga ito. At, kung mapakitang okey naman pala ang mga makina ng Mega Pacific, ano mgayon? Baka medyo mapapahiya ang Korte Suprema dahil sinabi nitong hindi uubra ang mga makina ng Mega Pacific. E, ano naman kung mapapahiya na naman ang Korte dahil marami na ring silang ginagawang nakakahiya gaya nang mga desisyon na pabago-bago – tapos na at pirmado na tapos uulitin. Ang buo naman nating hudikatura’y talaga namang nawala na sa tama. Imbes na ang batas ang nasusunod, kadalasan – kahit na sa pinakamataas na hukuman – ang batayan ng mga desisyon ay kung ano ang magiging epekto nito sa lipunan o sa pamahalaan o sa kongreso o negosyo.
Hindi dapat ganyan ang ating mga hukuman. Ang dapat na sinusunod ay ang salitang Latin na “Duro Lex sed Lex.” — mahirap man ang batas ngunit iyan ang batas.
Isa pa, parang hindi naman dapat pag-gastusan ang sunod na halalan ng kasing laki nang P11.3 bilyon. Sa mga pinagpipilian natin sa pagiging pangulo ay parang lugi tayo na ganoon kalaki ang ating gastos para lamang pumili ng sunod na Pangulo na hindi naman nalalayo sa papalitan natin. Kung ano ang kakulangan o pagkakamali ni Gloria, parang nakikita ko na na wala namang magiging pagbabago kung sinoman ang mapili sa mga nangungunang mga kandidato. Kaya, bakit pa natin gagastsan ng P11.3 bilyon ang halalang hindi naman kayang baguhin ang ating pamumuhay?
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hvp (07.01.09)

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Helpless

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

“Our one best hope for elections in 2010 will be that of Gloria Arroyo’s allowing the constitutionally mandated elections to proceed – whether automated or manual.”

by Ducky Paredes

I only hope that Gloria Arroyo has no plans to extend her tem as our president, It is our one chance to have a peaceful election leading to a change in Presidents. We have no real defense against her. Neither the Church, the civic groups, business, our courts, the political opposition or anyone else has the smarts to prevent Gloria from doing whatever she wants.
Look at the political opposition. They are mesmerized with the idea that they will be taking over after the election. This is totally wrong. Should we actually have an election, it is not the opposition that will take over but another President with his own crew of family and friends who will lord it over everyone and do as they please. How can it be otherwise when what call itself the opposition is a formless and faceless aggrupation (that apt Marcos word) with no permanence and no roster of members? All of our parties exist only in the minds of our politicians. They stand for nothing.
Even when it has a form separate and distinct from its membership or its leaders, when a party chooses a candidate – as will be happening with the largest recently merged political party – it will choose a candidate (even from outside the two recently merged parties) who the party leaders feel has a chance of wining on his own – with or without any party. So, if such a candidate does win, why should he feel that he owes that party anything when the political party clearly only rode to victory on his coat tails?
And the political parties that choose a candidate from within the party? This will happen only when the one who will be chosen owns the political party. Perhaps, he spends for all of the party’s expenses; or has staffed it with his own people or is the lone organizer and owner of the party, which would be, as a business considered as one owned by a single proprietor.
Gloria Arroyo had the best chance of putting together a real political party after, as vice president, she took over from a President that she deposed with the help of a lot of political, civic, business and NGO leaders. It was a real chance – the second time when a people rose against a political leader whose promise to the nation had turned sour – for unity in politics. But, then, of course, instead of getting back to that dream, Gloria also shattered whatever expectations everyone – friend and foe – had of her presidency, within a week of her installation.
As for the church, its one stringent voice in active opposition belongs to an aging Pangasinan prelate who may have reached second childhood early. Once a loud voice in moral opposition against the abuses of government, he has become a ghost of the one religious voice that once greatly affected our political lives – that of the Cardinal Sin. The Archbishop’s last great idea was that the First Gentleman would make a run for the presidency in order to save his wife from being held for her crimes against the people. That is, of course, simply preposterous!
Our courts, says a lawyer I greatly respect, have become transactional fora. While the ideal has always been along the lines of dura lex sed lex (the law is tough but it is the law), Philippine courts now worry over the effect of the law being applied with an even hand according to the principles that have applied to laws since the beginning of civilization. Instead, our courts now look at what their decisions will do to society, the government, reputations, politics, etc. not what ought to happen according to the strict interpretation of the law.
Thus, no court is a final arbiter of the law. It used to be the Supreme Court but look at what that court has been doing. It ruled wrongly (with open eyes) in installing Gloria Arroyo president and continues to rule on the effect of its decisions rather than on the language of the law.
A recent decision that freed Randy David (our David to the Gloriath in the expected 2010 elections for congress in the second district of Pampanga) for peacefully demonstrating against an executive order of the President also upheld the legality of a President calling in the military whenever there exists widespread “lawless violence.”
There is no more need for a Martial Law declaration; all that has to be proven is the existence of “lawless violence.” Incidents such as bombs exploding outside the offices of the Ombudsman and other public buildings proves the existence of “lawless violence” unless one can definitely prove that this was the work of the President’s own agents; in which case, would it be “lawful violence”?
Thus, after a few firecrackers exploded in the right places proving “lawless violence,” she can call in the military to take over government offices and whole cities and provinces and our courts having declared themselves impotent in the face of “lawless violence” made lawful by a prior decision of the Supreme Court will just have to do what is best under the present circumstances. Thus will our future be decided and, sadly, while in the Spanish era, we had enough “anak ng bayan” to form a katipunan that fought against the colonizer, today is a different era.
Our one best hope for elections in 2010 will be that of Gloria Arroyo’s allowing the constitutionally mandated elections to proceed – whether automated or manual. Everyone else, as earlier pointed out, is helpless to affect events enough to force Gloria Arroyo to follow the constitution’s mandates. She will do as her spirit moves her and no one can stop her.
That is our immediate future.
* * *
“The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealised past.” — Robertson Davies, “A Voice from the Attic”, 1960

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hvp 06.30.09)

Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com

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Dumb Milk Ads

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

“(T)his milk product promises: children who drink their milk will be 100% nourished, provided they also have a balanced diet.”

by Ducky Paredes

Is there something in powdered milk that makes the ones who handle its advertising dumb?

In their advertisements, these milk companies that promote their products as brain food that deliver intellectual growth in children turn out nt to have any intellectual skills and are as much as math dummies.

Some time ago, a milk company’s advertisement that ran in various publications, purported to show a brainy youngster (having drank the milk product) tackling a complicated math problem; but, the answer to the math problem of the youngster who had drank of the product was just plain wrong. The copywriter and all those who checked the ad copy obviously forgot the simplest math rule that we learn in grade school – PEMDAS. In doing one’s math, the way to go is by doing the processes involved in the following order: Parenthesis-Exponent-Multiplication-Division-Addition-Subtraction (PEMDAS).

The same manufacturer committed yet another error when its commercial on television featured a celebrity who proclaimed that as a child, she so loved to drink the milk product she was now endorsing. No problem with that, except for the fact that when the famous female endorser was still a child, that brand had not yet been manufactured! These were subjects of earlier columns.

Now, another milk brand again leads consumers, mothers in particular, to the path of erroneous math. In their ad placements on top rating programs on the two leading networks, their commercials encourage mothers to rally behind the product. Backed by inspiring images, this milk product promises: children who drink their milk will be 100% nourished, provided they also have a balanced diet.

That is a ridiculous statement! A child who eats balanced meals is already 100% nourished.  Again, in their eagerness to arrest consumer attention and ensure product loyalty, it looks like the copywriters ignored the concept of percentages. I mean, how can one improve on 100%? Isn’t being, say, 200% nourished means being overweight and horribly fat?

The milk company exploits the anxiety of mothers about giving their children the right kind of meals. The ad wants to turn this rightful concern into paranoia..

To the company, providing a wholesome, balanced diet is no longer enough for kids. No, mothers now have to buy their product to boost their kids’ health. The brand’s intentions are apparent. Their goal isn’t to unite concerned mothers under the common cause of proper nutrition, but to mislead these mothers into making the company’s cash registers jingle.

The statement ‘100% nutrition with three balanced meals’ also raises an interesting conundrum. Should people now believe that children who were born before the brand came into being were not properly nourished? Imagine, thousands of years of human history, and only now will kids be able to receive sufficient nourishment! The next time you see a footage of boxing legend Muhammad Ali and other athletic greats in their prime, keep in mind that (if you are sold to this product’s ads, the world’s all-time greatest athletes were malnourished!

By implying that a balanced diet is somehow inadequate, the brand’s adverts contradict the science of nutrition.  But, I am not only getting hot under the collar over nothing. Section 15 of Republic Act 3720, otherwise known as the Food, Drug and Cosmetic act, explicitly states that “A food shall be deemed to be misbranded … if its labeling is false or misleading in any particular.”

Furthermore, Art. 85 of Republic Act 7394, also known as The Consumer Act of the Philippines likewise deems food mislabeled “…if its labeling or advertising is false or misleading in any way.”

There is a reason most of these products are called “supplements”. What makes them “supplements” is that these are meant only to supplement, or enhance, an imbalanced or nutrition-deficient diet. It’s a noble intention, of course. Any busy parent will tell you that a product designed to bolster their kids’ nutritional intake is a godsend.

Should a parent accomplish the admirable goal of providing a wholesome, appropriate diet, then there is no longer a need for supplements. In fact, providing the milk in question to an already 100% nourished kid may result in a dietary imbalance, putting the child at risk of obesity. The irony of ironies is that over-nutrition is actually a form of malnutrition!

* * *

The so-called facts that this milk company is trying to promote just don’t add up. Its ad campaign is as full of holes as the simplistic ads that promote presidential candidates as good material because they were born poor or ride in pedicabs or provided free movies to seniors in his city. Heck, if someone didn’t have the sipag at tiyaga to fix a leaky roof or to take a jeepney or taxi of his own private chauffer-driven car or to provide more solid benefits through his city’s extra-rich resources, why do they think that qualifies them to the presidency?

Is the electorate so dumb as to fall for such gimmicks?

Apparently, that’s what these intellectual dwarves who want to be our president think. Sadly, they may again be proven right. I mean, what sort of brain do our politicos have that the parties choose candidates even from outside their party based solely on the idea that the more popular in the surveys posses the “winnability” that is the one trait that Philippine political parties seem to value in candidates. In other words, it is not whether the person can do the job, the one trait they look for is simply popularity.

God, this country needs some sort of brain food that will get our electorate thinking right. Sadly, it is not any milk brand – whether powdered or liquid. And, as has been proven in the number of dumbos we have placed in our Senate, the popular do not always make the best senators. In fact, what may be wrong with our Senate is that the people who are there represent nothing but those who, at the time of their election, were temporarily popular and captured the electorate’s fancy on the day of the election.

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hvp 06.29.09)

Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com

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Ang KKK at Halalan 2010

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Deretsahan

ni Horacio Paredes

Bakit ba ganito ang ating pulitika? Papaano natin mapipili ang tamang tao na dapat nating pangulo kung pati na ang mga partido pulitikal ay walang tinitignan kundi ang popularidad ng mga kandidato – ayon sa mga survey na isinasagawa ng mga kumpanya kagaya ng Social Weather Stations (SWS), Pulse Asia at iba pa.

Ito na lang ba ang ating batayan kung sino ang dapat na maging pangulo ng ating bansa? Popularidad? Dahil diyan kung bakit ganito ang nangyayari sa ating bansa. Kung si Gat. Jose Rizal o kaya’y Andres Bonifacio ay mga buhay ngayon, tiyak na wala silang pag-asa na mapiling Pangulo ng bansa dahil sa wala silang bilyones na itatapon sa halalan at hindi sila tangap at popular sa lahat ng tao – lalong-lalo na sa mga hindi gaanong nagmamahal sa Pilipinas.

Ang ating kinakailangan sa ngayon ay mga taong tama ang pag-iisip at mayroong nakikitang magandang kinabukasan hindi ng kanilang sarili kundi para sa ating bansa. Kinatatakutan ko sa mga sinasabing nangungunang kandidato (dahil sa kanilang mga resulta sa survey na sa katotohanan ay maaaring bilhin na resuta) na wala pa ring mangyayari sa Pilipinas kung ang mga ito ang ating pagpipilian.

Mula pa noong nasilang ang ideya ng Pilipinas bilang isang bansa na nakaligtas sa kamay ng mga dayuhang nag hari-harian sa ating bansa, wala pang nagging Pangulo na tinama sa dating konsepto ang kanilang pamahalaan. Ang mga nagsimula nito ay ang mga tinatawag na anak ng bayan. Hindi ba’t ang “Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng̃ mg̃á Anak ng̃ Bayan (KKK)” ang nagsimula sa atin patungo sa ating kalayaan?

Ngunit, bakit ngayon ang ating mga pulitiko at kahit na rin ang mga hukom at mga sundalo’y parang nalayo na sa mga adhikain ng nauna nating mga bayani. Sa KKK, ang pinakamababang ranggo ay ang Katipon, sunod ang Kawal, at ang pinakamataas ay ang kanilang tinatawag na Bayani. Saan napunta ang mga adhikain ng mga nagsimula ng ating bansa. Bakit ngayon ay para tayong mga alipin pa rin ng mga dayuhan. Halos lahat ng gamit natin ay galing sa labas ng bansa. Kahit na sa ating sunod na halalan ay aasa tayo sa dunong at mga makina ng ibang mga bansa kahit na ang gagaling naman ng mga Pinoy magtrabaho sa computer. Bakit parang wala tayong tiwala sa sarili at sobra tayong umaasa pa rin sa mga dayuhan? Bakit ang ating mga lider ay mas madalas na mga magnanakaw ng kayamanan ng bayan?

Ang inaasahan ng mga nagsimula ng bansang ito na mga “anak ng bayan” ay isang bansang mapayapa na binubuo ng mga mamamayng sumusunod sa batas at kanilang tungkulin sa bansa at sa sarili upang patungo tayong lahat sa kaunlaran. Saan napunta ang kay gandang layuning ito? Bakit parang kinalimutan na natin ang mga sinakripisyo ang mga sarili upang maging malayang bansa ang Pilipinas at magkaroon tayong mga Pilipino ng pagkakataong ipakita sa mundo ang kakayanan natin?

Saan tayo patungo? Tiyak na kung gusto nating magbago ang ating landas bilang isang bansa, ang dapat nating piliing sunod na Pangulo ay hindi kung sino ang pinakapopular kundi kung sino ang may kakayahang baguhin ang ating pagiisip at ituro tayo patungo sa liwanag. Kung sa popular pa rin tayo, tiyak na walang magiging pagbabago sa mga buhay natin at sa kinabukasan ng ating bansa.

Mabigat ang tungkulin natin sa sarili at sa mga nagsimula n gating bansa sa susunod na halalan. Kung sa popular pa rin tayo, para na ring tinapon na natin an gating kinabukasan dahil sa ating ipapa-ubaya natin ito sa mga magapayaman lamang sa kanilang sarili.

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hvp (06.29.09)

Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com

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GSIS vs. IBM, Round 2

Monday, June 29, 2009

“Shame on IBM for not doing what any other company would have done on Day One: attend to its client’s problem with the IBM software!”

 by Ducky Paredes

If you pay out P80 million for anything, you should have the right to expect that, if something goes wrong with the damned thing that the seller will try to help fix it, right? What you do not expect is that the bum who sold it to you will tell everyone within hearing distance that because he never told you to buy his product, therefore, he is not responsible for any problems that come your way from using it.

That is exactly what is happening in the case of the Government Service Insurance System’s ongoing spat with the giant multinational International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation.

GSIS, after being sold what it considers a “lemon” software by IBM Corporation, now finds itself at the receiving end of a lawsuit by the computer giant — a case of offender having the gall to sue the aggrieved. IBM has chosen to sue the state pension fund instead of doing what it should have done — fixing or replacing its faulty DB2 software which is, at the very least, partly – if not wholly — responsible for fouling up a GSIS IT program.

Sure, the GSIS was the first to file a case vs. IBM, but that damage suit was justified as a last recourse in the face of IBM’s intransigence and refusal to fix the problem. Questronix was the systems integrator that won the bid to implement the GSIS’s ILMAAAMS, (Integrated Loans, Membership, Acquired Assets and Accounts Management System) project of the agency. The project, which cost P80 million, involves developing the agency’s database for all its member services.

And IBM has been avoiding facing the problem that has been traced to IBM’s DB2 software. Imagine that, instead of attending to its client’s problem. My source tells me that IBM first asked for a meeting with GSIS to discuss the problem. But IBM never showed up for the meeting it had set up.

Instead, IBM let GSIS know that it would no longer speak with GSIS because President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo would tell GSIS what it had to do. According to the IBM information given to GSIS, the President would side with them because of IBM’s large investments in the Philippines. What investments?

Instead of talking to GSIS about treating IBM right, however, Gloria actually praised GSIS for its over-all performance as the state pension fund for government workers.

Having failed to pull off its threat of having the President tell off GSIS, IBM next threatened GSIS with a cabinet level person who they would bring to a meeting with GSIS. When the pension fund ignored this threat, IBM then warned that a highly placed Cabinet Secretary would be paying GSIS a visit soon on its behalf if it did not agree on a meeting.

What was getting IBM so antsy?

My GSIS source says that IBM was desperate to stop the world from knowing that IBM’s DB2 software actually sucks big time, despite the testimony of IT workers that the software works well. But, wasn’t the best way to keep GSIS quiet was actually to attend to its complaints about the software. After all, it was no secret that GSIS had been knocking on IBM’s and it, dealer, Questronix to, please, pretty please, fix the problem; so, why didn’t IBM just fix the problem. Then, GSIS would not have had to resort to file a lawsuit against IBM and Questronix. All that GSIS wants is working software so that it can process the claims for their benefits of its members that come in on a daily basis?

Neither IBM nor Questronix can escape responsibility or engage in finger-pointing over the failure of the DB2 software as no less than Questioner’s director for business solution wrote in a May 15 letter to the GSIS that IBM’s laboratory in Ontario, Canada admitted that DB2 was to blame for the problems encountered in the GSIS IT project.

Perhaps, by now, Questronix may have already deleted from its own website a damning admission that confirmed DB2’s being a lemon, despite its marketing hype and overblown claims of technical superiority.

According to the Questronix letter, this was the report of the IBM Ontario:

 “There is a problem in the calculation of a new extent in table spaces larger than two terabytes and with 16 kilobytes page size. Under these conditions, the calculation runs into an overflow. The overflow caused DB2 to lose certain information in the leading byte and data may end up in the wrong table, resulting in subsequent page corruptions.”

Questronix adds: “We are currently awaiting the commitment of IBM Labs when the special build will be available. The fix will make the address of any new extent in such table spaces greater than 2TB with page size of 16K will be calculated correctly, hence not causing page corruption any longer.”

Questronix’s online statement admitted the problem was traced to IBM’s DB2 and not to any other components of the GSIS IT project, while claiming that a “special build was made and installed by IBM” to remedy the problem.

But the problem with DB2 persists to this day and the GSIS’ a conservative estimate of the damage the software had done to the GSIS IT project would amount to no less than P5 billion. If GSIS had chosen to file only a multi-million peso and not a multi-billion peso suit against IBM, it is only because the filing fee in thee civil cases for damages increases exponentially with the amount claimed by the complainant.

Both IBM and Questronix had been trying to make light of the problems caused by DB2, but the March 30 crash of the GSIS IT project caused by the software alone paralyzed 90 percent of GSIS transactions, including claims and loans.

GSIS chief legal counsel Estrella Elamparo put in perspective the damage done by DB2 when she said: “Questronix is bragging about addressing our concerns in a ‘timely fashion’ when it took Questronix nearly two months just to figure out what’s wrong. Two months represent thousands of loans and benefits application on hold.”

To IBM and Questronix, two months may mean a little, but to the millions of GSIS members, they are an eternity considering that what was severely affected by DB2 was the smooth provision by the GSIS of pensions, loans and other benefits to its 1.5 million members.

Something is very wrong when a company like IBM tries to look for a political solution to a technical problem found to be inherent in a very expensive product it sells to governments and corporations. It is good that the GSIS has not allowed itself to be bullied by the giant company despite its name-dropping antics.

Shame on IBM for not doing what any other company would have done on Day One: attend to its client’s problem with the IBM software! Then, there would have been no more problems and no lawsuits.

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hvp 06.27.09)

Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@yahoo.com

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Steve Tajanlangit’s Dream – 2

Friday, June 26, 2009

“The very thing that is wrong with our country is the fact that politics lords it over science, industry, the economy, good governance, religion, sports and just about everything else.”

by Ducky Paredes

A romantic with wanderlust in his blood, Steve Tajanlangit builds great resorts. They are classy, friendly, comfortable and always environment friendly. A long-time Tajanlangit dream of a first-class cruise ship running domestic tours of our exotic and romantic more than 7,107 islands, many still in pristine state, seemed about to come true.

He had bought the MV Coco Explorer 2, a Panamanian flag vessel and, after spending several millions on repairs, maintenance of a full crew and recovering from having dealt with the wrong manning agency that burglarized the very vessel they were supposed to be handling that created problems with the Bureau of Customs, finally – a year later – on August 21, 2008.the Commissioner of Customs forwarded his 2nd Indoresement to the Secretary of Finance on his decision withdraw the warrant and release the now renamed vessel “7107 Islands Cruise” to Steve.

Tajanlangit’s 7107 Shipping Corporation had all of the clearances from the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina), subject only to the outcome of a counter-suit filed wrongly against Steve’s Boracay Resort by the manning agency that was handling the vessel when it was burglarized. Orophil never reported the break-in (probably and inside job) to Steve.

In purchasing a vessel, the new owner’s documentary requirements start with the Marina, which is the only agency that can convert a foreign flag vessel to a Philippine Flag ship. It is only when this has happened that taxes on the vessel are due the government. So far, the Marina approvals were all still provisional – Certificate of Vessel Registry, Certificate of Ownership, Minimum Ship Manning Certificate and Passenger Ship Safety Certificate, among others – pending the settlement of the Orophil countersuit.

That condition – the settlement with Orophil – is a give-away that the problems that Steve has been having with government agencies is the work of the former congressman who offered his Orophil’s manning services to Steve with the idea of taking advantage of a landlubber owning his first vessel.

The contract for manning was for $700 monthly agency fee plus actual cost.  But, cash advances, many never liquidated, were more the rule.

The cash advances from Steve to Orophil were as follows:

October 22, 2007  – An advance of P500,000.

November 9, 2007 US$ 26,100 for 30,000 liters of Diesel Fuel. (This is significant because just seven days later, 40,000 liters of fuel was drained from the vessel’s Diesel Fuel Tanks, among other materials unloaded from the vessel and never reported to the owner by the manning agency.

November 14, 2007 – P1 million advance through a Veterans Bank check.

November 17, 2007 – A letter from Orophil requesting for P5,097,799.00 for the November operations including the cost of Marina documentation and licensing of the vessel.

November 17, 2008 – Another P1.5 million cash advance.

November 28, 2007 – Another P2,0 million cash advance.

December 7,  2007 – Cash advance of PP1.0 million.

December 27, 2007 – Cash advance given in cash to Capt. Viaje of Orophil.

On January 8, 2008, the NBI finished its report on the November 16 pilferage of the vessel. The NBI report implicated top  Orophil officials in the pilferage. A Mariveles barangay official spoke to the NBI and promised to testify in court that his boat was hired to offload the fuel from Steve’s vessel. Other witnesses have also surfaced saying the same thing.

Still, even as Steve has asked the NBI to look deeper into the burglary before filing charges for qualified theft against these Orophil officials, Steve’s Executive Assistant, Augustus B. Zamora, has filed charges of Estafa against former  (one-time) Bacolod congressman Juan Orola, Jr. and other Orophil officials and directors after Orophil failed to account for some P2 million of the P6.2 million that Steve advance to Orophil.

Orophil filed a counter-suit, which was dismissed by the Makati Prosecutors Office which decision was immediately dismissed by another former congressman, then Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales. The counter-suit by Orophil was a weird one. It asked the ship owner – Steve Tajanlangit – for P4 million for services rendered and advances. Everyone in the shipping industry knows that manning agencies never advance funds to owners; it is always the other way around.

Even with all of its approvals and permits, the 7107 Islands Cruise, among the best ideas ever to come to Philippine Tourism is still unable to operate and is in danger of being auctioned off by the Department of Finance  on the mistaken notion, as stated by Finance Undersecretary Estela Sales: “For almost two years now the vessel … [has been] operating as a cruise ship around Boracay, Coron, and Subic without a single centavo paid for customs duties.”

This is not entirely true. On February 4, 2009, the Bureau of Customs, Subic Bay Freeport Zone issued BOC Import Entry & Internal Revenue Declaration No. 7 and Entry No. TNW 09-09 for the importation of  Steve’s vessel with taxes and duties amounting to P11,659,922.

Also, whatever trips were made by 7107 Islands Cruise, these were done with customs guards on board when the vessel was under the control of the Bureau of Customs.

But, in the end, what is more important for this country – to have that tourist ship, the only one that would cruise Philippine waters exclusively, doing its thing; or for the DoF to kill off among the best ideas ever for tourism promotion just to please a former Bacolod congressman who was unable to pull a fast one on Steve Tajanlangit?

The very thing that is wrong with our country is the fact that politics lords it over science, industry, the economy, good governance, religion, sports and just about everything else. Giving in to politics over our efforts to improve tourism, which could actually become a great income-earner for the Philippines, is simply the wrong way to go.

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hvp 06.26.09)

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Steve Tajanlangit’s Dream - 1

Thursday, June 25, 2009

“(W)hat better experience can a Pinoy tourist have than staying in the equivalent of a five-star hotel room while touring the untamed beaches and exotic islands of  our own country?”

by Ducky Paredes

Steve Tajanlangit is a dreamer. When he saw Boracay, many years back, he knew that he had a winner and built the first resorts on the island, later selling a piece of the island to a developer that built the golf course and among the largest resorts on the island.

Recently, Esteban Tajanlangit, Jr. has been looking at Coron that has 25% of the more than 100 islands in the Palawan group. He knows that this will be the next tourist destination although this will take a few years. Steve has been looking for a boat – a cruise ship – to sail Philippine waters and which will cater to the Filipino tourism market. After all, what better experience can a Pinoy tourist have than staying in the equivalent of a five-star hotel room while touring the untamed beaches and exotic islands of  our own country?

Although he had looked over the vessel before, when he tried to buy the MV Coco Explorer 2, C & C Marine A/S Copenhagen, Denmark that owned the ship, rejected his bid. Years later, the same Panamanian Flag vessel was sent from Thailand to the Philippines for repairs at the Herma Shipyard in Bataan. At that point, while the vessel was still at Batangas port more than a month after arrival in the country, C & C Marine of Denmark also communicated with Steve and they executed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the sale of the ship to Steve.

Now, Steve may know everything about the resort business; but he has never run a ship before nor dealt with the government agencies that one must go through as a ship owner. A relative suggested a manning outfit to run the ship and help with the paperwork.

Thus, within a week, Orophil Shipping Co., Inc. had a proposal on Steve’s desk proposing just that. They would run the vessel for him and do all the documentary requirements to convert the MV Coco (a Panamanian flag vessel) to MV 1017 Islands, Philippine Flag vessel. Only Philippine flagships can sail domestically and Steve’s ship would be exclusively for those who want to see our more than 7,000 islands.

The principal owner of Orola is Juan Orola, Jr. a former Tourism Attache and a former congressman (one-term) of Bacolod. Having been in Congress, he has clout in government agencies some of which are run by former colleagues in congress.

A little more than a month into their contract with the vessel in dry dock, Steve was shocked to learn that his vessel had been burglarized. And, Orophil that was manning the ship never reported the incident to Steve.

In the meantime, the fees being paid to Orophil were mounting and Steve, an astute businessman even if he is not much of a shipping maven, began seeing a pattern of overpricing and unliquidated advances.

Two months after the pilferage, in January 2008, Steve requested the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for a report on the pilferage. Steve had lost 40,000 liters of fuel sucked out of the tanks, together with ballast and other metals, paintings, linen, kitchenware, antique pieces and so on. In the same month, the RATS group of the Bureau of Customs issued a subpoena to the ship captain of the vessel (an employee of Orophil) to submit all the documents of the vessel.

In the meantime, the paperwork on the intricate processing of the application to change the country flag of the ship was going on. On February 22, 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the Articles of Incorporation of 7107 Islands Shipping Corp. (Single proprietors are not allowed to own commercial vessels.)

So, on March 3, 2008, a letter could finally and in fact was submitted to the Marina with all the required documentary requirements on the “application for issuance of authority to acquire ship through importation and/or outright purchase.”

On March 4, 2008, however, the RATS group of the Bureau of Customs issued a Warrant Seizure and Detention Order (WSD) on the vessel. They were seizing the vessel for violation of “Section 2530 (f) & (l) – 5of the TCCP as amended.

And, on March 7, 2008,  Orophil informed Steve that “due to the WSD, Orophil shall no longer be bound by the Ship Management Agreement. Orophil, which had accumulated unliquidated advances, demanded immediate payment of a little over P4 million for its services and claims for advances by Orophil to Steve.

This is laughable. In the manning business, the agency never advances anything to or for the owner. Advances go only one way – from the ship owner to the manning agency, not vice versa.

Apparently, the former congressman, with various allies in the government was playing Steve Tajanlangit, Jr. for a patsy. Orola had convinced the Bureau of Customs that Steve brought his vessel into the Philippines surreptitiously and had been running it as a cruise ship all over the Philippines under the Panamanian flag.

On the part of Steve, his dream of finally having a cruise ship for our thousands of islands seemed at an end; but he fought on. Even as 7107 Islands was moving to quash WSD No. 2008-054, its application with the Marina was approved on April 24. 2008. 7107 Shipping Corporation was approved and accredited to engage in the Domestic Shipping Business valid to April 23, 2011,

On May 6, 2008, Marina granted 7107 Islands the authority to purchase MV Coco Explorer subject to 26 conditions, which included the final outcome of the Civil Case filed by Orophil for P4 million. On May 16, Marina issued a certification that “MV Coco Explorer 2 was inspected/surveyed by Marina surveyor on 16 May 2008 at Pier 6, North Harbor, Manila and that the ship may now be released by the Bureau of Customs.”

On May 22, 2008, Marina issued the Tonnage Measurement Certificate for the MV 7107 Islands Cruiser.

The next day, the District Collector for he Port of Manila of the Bureau of Customs Horacio Suansing, Jr. decided, after two months of hearting, to lift the WSD and release the vessel to 7107 Islands Corp.

On May 28, 2008, the “Tourism Triangle” Memorandum of Agreement was signed by the Provincial Governors of Batangas, Mindoro Oriental, Mindoro Occidental, Marinduque, Romblon, Antique, Aklan and Palawan and witnessed by officials of the Departments of Tourism (DOT) and of Transportation and Communications (DOTC). This triangle is the main cruise destinations of the 7107 Islands Cruiser.

On June 4, 2008, Marina issued the Plans Approval of Existing Motor Vessel named “7107 Islands Cruise.” This is another of the requirements before one could finalize the purchase.

On August 21, 2008, the Commissioner of Customs affirmed the Decision of the District Collector. The Customs commissioner and sent his decision to the Secretary of Finance for final review and clearance of release of vessel.

It looked like Steve’s ordeal was finally over. It was not.

(More tomorrow.)

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hvp 06.24.09)

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Mag-ingat sa Ubo na may Lagnat

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Deretsahan

ni Horacio Paredes

Hindi tayo nakakasiguro na isa pa lamang ang namamatay sa A(H1N1). Ayon na rin kay Health Secretary Francisco Duque ang kauna-unahang namatay na mayroon nitong virus ay isang babaeng empleyado ng Kongreso.

Nang umuwi ang babae galing sa upisina noong Hunyo 17, siya’y nanghihina. Kinabukasan dahil sa siya’y may ubo (dry cough) lagnat at giniginaw (chills) uminom siya ng paracetamol. Pagdating ng kinabukasan (Hunyo 19) , hindi na kumain ng almusal at nahihirapan na siyang huminga. Bago dmating ang tinawag niyang doctor, namatay na ang babae.

Kaya naman nalaman na mayroon itong A(H1N1) ay dahil lamang hiningi ng kaniyang kapatid na dumaan ang bangkay sa autopsy. Doon lamang nalaman ng Department of Health (DOH) na siya pala’y tinamaan ng virus ng A(H1N1). Samakatuwid, hindi siya namatay dahil sa virus ngunit napadali ang kaniyang pagpanaw dahil sa siya’y nadapuan ng A(H1N1).

Ayon kay Secretary Duque, namatay siya dahil sa kaniyang sakit sa puso: “congestive heart failure secondary to acute myocardial infarction aggravated by severe pneumonia eith bacterial, viral or both.” Gaya ng maraming nadadapuan ng virus na ito, ang papatay sa kanila ay ang dating sakit. Kung may kahinaaan sa puso, puo ang papatay sa kanila. Para bang pinapahina ng virus ang katawan upang ang dating karamdaman naman ang  papatay sa tao.

Ilan kaya ang namatay dahil sa tumigil ang puso habang ito’y inuubo, may lagnat at nahihirapang huminga. Ilan kaya sa kanila ay tinamaan ng virus na A(H1N1)? Hindi natin nalalaman at hindi natin malalaman dahil kahit na namatay ang ilan sa ospital, hindi naman maibabalita ito sa DOH, pwera lamang kung mayroong kamag-anak, gaya noong empleyada ng Kongreso na nakaisip na ipa-autopsy ang namatay dahil sa gusto niyang malaman kung ano nga ba ang ikinamatay ng kaniyang kapatid. Ilan sa atin ang hihilingin na buksan ang bangkay at suriin ang mga nilalaman ng katawan ng isa nating minahal? Kahit na patay na ito’y mahirap pa ring payagan na buksan ang bangkay upang masuri ang iba’t-ibang parte ng katawan niya.

Kaya, kung iisa pa lamang ang nasisiguro nating namatay na tinamaan ng A(H1N1), hindi rin natin nalalaman kung ilan nga ba talaga ang pinatay na ng virus na ito?

* * *

Palagay ko na sa buong Asya’y iba na ang tingin nila sa ating mga Pinoy. Ang ating futbol team na lalaban sana sa Asian Youth Games sa Singapore ay hindi na lang pinasali ng namamahala upang wala nang iba pang mahawa sa sakit na dinala sa Singapore ng isang 14 anyos na manlaro ng Pinas. Ngunit, pagtapos raw ng kanilang kwarantina at bago sila uimuwi, ang mga Pinoy ay papayagan maglaro ng isang exhibition game lamang. Para na rin tayong ginawang salimpusa lamang sa Asian Youth Games dahil sa A(H1N1) na iyan.

Sa atin namang nakikita na napakarami nang mga tinatamaan ng sakit na iyan sa Pinas, mukhang talagang nakikita na kulang ang kakayanan ng ating DoH na pangalagaan ang kalusugan ng ating bansa. Bakit halos wala pang mga kasong A(H1N1) sa ibang parte ng Asya, habang sa bansa natin ay patungo na ang dami nito sa isang libo at dumarami pa rin.

Pangalagaan ang ating mga mahal sa buhay. Kung mayroong inuubo, kahit wala pang lagnat, dalhin agad sa doctor upang malaman kung papaano palakasin ang katawan nito upang hindi matuloyan nang kung anuman ang nakapasok sa katawan niyang virus o iba pa.

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hvp (06.24.08)

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