National Elections in the Philippines

Despite their bruising news coverage of the recently concluded national elections in the Philippines, the four major Metro Manila broadsheets had admirably kept themselves as vigilant with their English as with the evolving numbers of the election results. Their problems with English grammar and usage were thus few and far between; in fact, I found only four grammatical and semantic fumbles serious and instructive enough to be critiqued in My Media English Watch—mixed up tenses, faulty sentence construction, verb phrase misuse, and highly convoluted, almost unfathomable feature writing.  

Also in this week's edition of Jose Carillo's English Forum, I'm sharing a pet theory of mine on why many nonnative English speakers can't speak or write the language well enough even if they become quite good at constructing grammar-perfect single sentences. This, to my mind, is due to their very limited repertoire of the connectives—the coordinating conjunctions, the conjunctive adverbs, the subordinating conjunctions, and, of course, the prepositions, which many people find such pesky and elusive things to learn. Some of us may not be even aware of it, but these connectives are absolute musts for flagging the contours and detours of our thoughts each time we write or talk. - Jose Carillo 

Cheap Plane Ticket of Cebu Pacific Air

P499 seats to select domestic and international destinations

We flew 906,118 passengers for the month of April 2010 alone! This achievement breaks the airline's own record of its best performing month, previously last March 2010 with 857,041 passengers.

CEB is happy to announce a seat sale to select domestic and all international destinations starting now until May 11, 2010.

For travel this July 1 to September 30, 2010, you can avail of the 'Go Lite' seat sale fare of P999 from Manila to Taipei or Kota Kinabalu.

P1,499 seats are up for grabs for Clark flights to Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore or Bangkok, as well as Cebu to Hong Kong and vice versa. Manila flights to Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau and Bangkok are also available for the 'Go Lite' seat sale fare of P1,499.

For the 'Go Lite' seat sale fare of P2,499, get to travel from Manila to Kuala Lumpur or Ho Chi Minh, and from Manila or Cebu to Singapore. Available also are 'Go Lite' P2,999 seats from Manila or Cebu to Incheon, Cebu to Pusan, and Manila to Jakarta or Shanghai.

Those off to Osaka, Japan can avail of the 'Go Fare' of P2,999.

Domestic flights are also on sale, for travel  from June 1 to July 31, 2010. Specifically, these are P499 'Go Lite' fares to and from CEB's Cebu hub, and to and from Davao and Cagayan de Oro. P699 'Go Lite' fares are also available from Manila to Bacolod, Calbayog, Catarman, Coron (Busuanga), Iloilo, Naga, Puerto Princesa, San Jose and Tuguegarao and vice versa.

We thank every Juan for their continued support, making Cebu Pacific number one and hope that  you can take advantage of our trademark low fares for your more frequent domestic and international travel!

Noynoy Aquino Mapipulates Philippine Election Survey?

As some sectors of the Philippine mass media become more and more preoccupied with making the news instead of just reporting it, some mind-bending semantic and journalistic disasters are bound to happen. This is what Jose Carillo's English Forum found out during the second week of its media coverage watch of the national election campaign. Imagine a business paper coming up with a headline that Nonoy Aquino "padded his poll lead" in the final Social Weather Stations pre-election survey that the paper itself had commissioned, and a leading Metro Manila broadsheet coming up with a headline that creates the distinct imagery of vice-presidential bet Jojo Binay hog-tying his opponent Mar Roxas while Noynoy Aquino scampers away from the scene of the crime. Ridiculous? Yes, but true! Read all about these language gaffes and more in my special media coverage watch.

To cap its campaign to help the electorate sort out truth and falsehood from the torrent of propaganda engulfing the national election campaign, the Forum is once again running "A primer on political propaganda," a cautionary essay I wrote during the run-up to the 2004 national elections. Along with my three-part series on the logical and verbal fallacies that the Forum posted earlier this year, I think this essay is as timely and as relevant as ever today. Please take time to read it before voting on May 10. 

Philippine Election: Comelec to Assist Illiterate Voters

BOARD of Elections Inspectors (BEI) can be asked to assist voters who are illiterate, says Atty Rodolfo Villares recentty.

 

During the daily program Mga Gutlo sa Kaalam uban sa Commission on Elections, new city election officers cited provisions of the Omnibus Election code which allows the BEI to assist illiterate or handicapped voters.

 

He also said the law allows two more persons to assist the voter; a relative within the fourth civil degree of affinity or consanguinity and a housemate who has the full trust and confidence of the voter.

 

Of course, the assistors are bound by law not to divulge in any manner anything the voter wants him to reflect in the official ballots.

The point popped upon the question whether party watchers would be allowed to assist voters.

No, they are not, Villares reiterated, as he hints that such a move can be illegal if pressed. - PIA

Kelly Clarkson Concert in Manila Philippines

Bulletin Entertainment thinks your life should not suck by missing this opportunity to see "American Idol" Kelly Clarkson in person.

Fire off an email to us at: mbeonline.freebies@gmail.com and tell us why we should take you and your friend to the concert. Include your full name, age, address and mobile phone number on the body of your email. We will pick five best answers and notify the winners via email and SMS message with details of how to get your pair of free tickets!

Winners must be able to present a valid ID and must be able to pick up the tickets at the Manila Bulletin office in Intramuros on May 1, Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m.

Kelly's "All I Ever Wanted Tour" in Manila is presented by Jag, PLDT Watch Pad, and ABS-CBN. It is also brought to you by Midas Productions, Pulp Live Productions, kellyclarkson.com, in cooperation with the Manila Bulletin, Araneta Coliseum, Nissan, the official residence Discovery Suites, and other media partners.

Free of English grammar and usage errors

In keeping with the spirit of the New Year, I thought we should be more forgiving of the overly exuberant figurative language of the print and broadcast media these past several days. But I think levity in journalistic language shouldn't be pursued to the point of insensitivity and callousness, like what was done by a major Metro Manila broadsheet last January 31when it reported that owing to the full moon, Mayon Volcano might extend the "courtesy" of "natural loud bangs and fireworks display" to the Albayanons as they welcomed the New Year. This personification of Mayon as if it were just another devil-may-care New Year's Day reveler is wayward, dangerous language—one that trivializes the need for great caution at this time when Mayon is still perilously restive. Except for this kind of loose journalistic language, though, I'm glad to note that the major reportage of the Metro Manila broadsheets for that same day—the last day of 2009—was admirably free of English grammar and usage errors. 

To start off the New Year, I posted in Jose Carillo's English Forum two previously published essays of mine: the first on the need to widen our repertoire of English idioms to become truly fluent in the language, and the second a personal assessment in a little over 800 words of the world as it is today. The Forum then rounds off its first-week edition for 2010 with links to two thought-provoking retrospective articles on the human condition—one on the Peter Principle, a theory on managerial incompetence that raised eyebrows 40 years ago, and the other on mankind's abiding belief in end-of-the-world prophecies despite consistent outcomes to the contrary.

Cebu Pacific Scandal

Ivy Rozina Vega Mondonedo-Castro 17 January at 17:27

Reply

I am Elma Revillame. I had a confirmed flight with Cebu Pacific, flight 5J476, Bacolod-Manila, Sunday, Jan 17, 2010, departing time 1045H. My friend drove me down the airport and actually saw airport clock at 945AM. We were both confident to be on time. (By practice, you have to be in the airport an hour before the flight, right?)

As I was falling in line at the check-in counter (there were at least five people ahead of me), the counter suddenly closed. A security guard then approached all of us in line, got our tickets and wrote the time. Mine was indicated 1005AM. I didn't contest because, unaware of their intent, I also noticed at THAT time, it was already 1005 AM. I later realized they were going to use indicated time as "TIME OF ARRIVAL AT THE AIRPORT", and NOT as time they closed the counter. THE FLIGHT WAS FULL.

All of us in line waiting were then escorted to the station manager of Cebu Pacific, Bacolod-Silay Airport, MS MENBAH MALTE. She then announced all our "confirmed seats" were forfeited for being late, NO REFUND, NO REBOOKING. She said this to 15 people who 'weren't late' but unfortunately, were excess to the full capacity of the plane. I managed to get some names of the passengers who fall victim of this flight: <Names, Time written by the guard>

1. Conrado M. Duran Jr. , 1003AM

2. Rolando P. Duray, 1004 AM

3. Elma Revillame, 1005 AM

4. Mario Constantino Jr, 1005AM

5. Welyan Quia-ong, 1009AM

Naturally, we all argued. All of us were totally surprised of the announcement, especially there is NO REFUND AND NO REBOOKING. To note, most of the passengers I was with then were newly-graduated students who were on their way to Manila to take the board exam on Monday, January 18, 2010. Surely, money is an issue for them, and no outright cash to purchase another ticket. (If I haven't withdrawn some money earlier, I wouldn't have cash to buy another ticket with Zest Aire!)

To add insult to injury, the flight was DELAYED TO 12NN, 1 hour and 15mins DELAY!!! We continued arguing because obviously they had ample time to accommodate us for the delayed flight, if the issue is indeed the fact that we were late. But noooohhh, the issue here is THE FLIGHT WAS OVERBOOKED!!!

We argued and reasoned to the station manager for over an hour (to note the plane hasn't departed at that time yet) regarding the overbooking, but what MS MENBAH MALTE could only say is that the Aviation Board allows them to overbook by 10% of the plane's capacity. The big confusion is, should the 110% arrives on time (like what happened to 15 of us), what are they going to do? Ms Malte simply said, we're going to rebook the rest of the passengers to the next flight! And so, why weren't we accommodated then??? Because the guard wrote 3-9mins late in our tickets MISCHIEVOUSLY!!! (they emphasized counter closes 45mins before flight) BUT THE FLIGHT WAS DELAYED TO 12NN!!!!!

The truest issue here is THE FLIGHT WAS OVERBOOKED, and sadly we were last in line. It should be okay if we get a refund, or get rebooked to the next flight SINCE WE PAID FOR IT!!!! But alas! No! Cebu Pacific is going to get all our money, without giving us the service that we seek.

Last straw is, I just learned that for a regular or promo ticket, you CANNOT REFUND OR REBOOK YOUR TICKET IF YOU DIDN'T CONFIRM FLIGHT TWO DAYS PRIOR… Ergo, If you're 1min late (from the 45min cutoff), say bye-bye to your money…. I run the figure in my head, CEBU PACIFIC HAS SWINDLED OVER P35,000 for that flight alone!!!!! No wonder they became number one!!! They swindle all unknowing passengers!!!!

My message (and well I speak for the many of us being swindled): Are we just going allow Cebu Pacific to continue reaping off money to unknowing victims, like us??? Should we really allow them to overbook 10% and just say to those last in line, "Sorry, you're forfeited, NO REFUND NO REBOOKING –Ergo, thank you, you have just been swindled". Would DTI or whoever allow this to continue, the abuse of so many victims?

I talked to some security and airport personnel, they reportedly said, "Ma'am madalas nangyayari yan dito, gina-into lang kamo sg Cebu Pacific" (That happens all the time, Cebu Pacific keeps deceiving their passengers). Whoah! That's truly alarming!

I sincerely hope this gets to you, your loved ones and your friends. I truly hope nobody gets fooled again by this company! This is really really really alarming! Over P40K A FLIGHT???? That's huge swindling!!!! And should we count all their flights nationwide, and well, globally, OMG!!! You do the math!!!! 

Philippine DSWD Cards

WHEN local politicians threaten to de-list you from the government's premier subsidy program for indigents, if only to wrest from you a pro-vote for him, he is bluffing.

In fact, if he has replaced some beneficiaries from the list to accommodate his supporters, he can be warned for usurping the authority of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD); the agency mandated to implement the Pantawid sa Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

An advisory shared by the DSWD hints that local governments could not do that as the project implementation cost of the program solely comes from the national government.

"No amount of money is given to the provincial and municipal levels for the implementation of the program," the advisory states.

But with the government socialized family subsidy as a rich source of support that can be translated to votes, chief executives wittingly use the program to gain the edge in campaigns.

The 4Ps is a National Government program implemented by the DSWD, the social agency asserts.

By such, it is solely the DSWD who is responsible in undertaking the program's major activities including selection and targeting of areas and the enumeration and identification of potential household beneficiaries through the Proxy-Means Test.

Proxy means test is a simple statistical test to measure the socio-economic condition of the household and the National Household Targetting System undertakes this, DSWD said.

The same agency is looking into the enrollment and monitoring of compliance of the program's conditionalities as well as preparing the payments and release of cash grants directly to the 4Ps beneficiaries in coordination with the Land Bank of the Philippines.

Over this, the DSWD averred that the Local Government Units (LGU's) are just partners in the program implementation and are specifically responsible in ensuring the constant availability of supply-side requirements on health and education.

The DSWD would also be ensuring the effective implementation of 4Ps in their respective localities using all the systems, procedures, and components of the program based on the 4Ps policies and guidelines set by the DSWD National Office.

With this, DSWD warned about de-listing, replacement, and addition of areas or beneficiaries as this is as a task solely for the DSWD National Office and are therefore not in the powers of the local governments.

For details, DSWD said one may call the Regional 4Ps Information Officer Aileen Lariba (0917-381-5555) at tel nos. 2329505 / 2329507 or Asela Bella Tse (0905-403-0386) for related inquiries. (PIA-Bohol) 

Bohol Election Update 2010

All roads will lead to the clustered precincts in the 1,109 barangays in 47 towns, where thousands of registered voters will troop to savor the first poll automation next Monday even as the Commission on Elections is now ready to conduct the synchronized elections.

Nobody knows yet how many of the total 732,696 registered voters in Bohol will cast their votes on Monday. But some sectors believe that it would be higher than the last elections.

The Comelec provincial office yesterday bared that the official ballots have already been completely delivered to the municipalities while the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for every clustered precinct have yet to be sent to their destinations.  

Comelec information officer-designate Joven Beniga said that PCOS machines will be delivered sometime this week or as early as tomorrow after their testing.

These machines for the first time of election automation are being tested by the Smartmatic and the Department of Science and Technology last week.

Beniga said that the official ballots and the PCOS arrived here last Wednesday. The poll agency started the delivery the official ballots to their destinations for three days - Wednesday to Friday but the PCOS were not because of the mandatory testing. So far, there have been no hitches on the testing, he said.

In-charge of the official ballots delivery is the Air21 and Fedex while those of the PCOS the Argo forwarder, Beniga said.

He said that the delivery of the ballots was escorted and closely guarded by the deputized police officers and the Philippine military men. The same situation will take place on the delivery of the PCOS machines this week.

It will be recalled that Comelec Manila completed ahead of the schedule the printing of more 50 million official ballots needed for the entire registered electorate in the country.

Meanwhile, the campaign will end on May 8, 2010. in accordance with the Comelec ruling. (RVO)

Update Philippine Elections 2010

With barely nine days left before the historic May 10 polls, Bishop Leonardo Medroso rallied the 1.1 million Boholanos to bend their knees in prayers for enlightenment and guidance in selecting the candidates they will vote on Election Day.

Bishop Medroso echoed the call together with the clergy during a prayer procession and mass held at the Cogon Shrine last Wednesday.

The call came as a 9-day novena prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate heart of Mary started yesterday and will wind up on May 9, eve of the election.

The church official said with the unabated corruption in governance, the electorates should carefully select their chosen candidates whom they think can make a difference in the call for clean governance.

"Each vote is sacred," he said as he reminded voters to check every candidate as to their integrity and capability to run the affairs of governance from the presidency down to the local officials.

"Everyday should be a day of prayer in the lips of every Boholano," the bishop appealed as this is the only way that the right leaders can be elected.

  

With the expected massive vote buying and intimidation in some areas, the more people should pray for the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, the church official stressed.

"We should elect people who are not corrupt and those bets who advocate pro-life," he said.

Medroso led the concelebrated mass which capped the prayer-procession that gathered parishioners from four jump-off points, namely St. Joseph cathedral, Lourdes Parish Church, Tubod chapel and at the HNU-Dampas gate.

Prayers and hymns were recited from the studio of station dyRD, beamed through the city streets.

The prayer procession and mass bannered the theme "Inubanan sa Pag-Ampo, Botohi ang Kandidato nga Ligdong ug Dunay Kakayahan nga Pinili sa Imong Nalamdagan nga Konsensya" (With prayers, vote for the right candidates based on your enlightened conscience).

The gathering of the faithful participated by various church-mandated organizations was spearheaded by the Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP).