Classes suspended today, March 11

Pareng Serge texted me that classes on all levels are suspended in UP Diliman.

Enjoy.

Student Council Elections

On March 4, UP students will exercise their right of suffrage and vote for the next set of officers who will compose the University Student Council — the “mother” of all college student councils.

Three parties will go head-to-head on a match for the officership: ALYANSA, KAISA and STAND-UP. For chairperson, Third Bagro (ALYANSA), Steph Tan (KAISA) and Jerrie Abella (STAND-UP) and for vice-chairperson, Marian Panganiban (ALYANSA), Titus Tan (KAISA) and Airah Cadiogan (STAND-UP).

At the same time, college student councils will also hold their elections. On the Engineering Student Council, four candidates are vying for council seats as Computer Science Representatives (from party ARISE):

• Izel de Ramos
• Ino Mantaring
• Kevinsky Dy
• Jase Tiojanco

For a detailed profile of the candidates, refer to Issue No. 25 of the Philippine Collegian (disclaimer: Jerrie Abella, albeit “on-leave”, is the editor-in-chief).

Exercise your right to vote! On March 4, head out to your respective college polling centers and vote-vote-vote!

Bill Gates gives $19.9-M grant to IRRI

Through GMA News.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an organization run by husband-and-wife Bill and Melinda Gates, donated $19.9M to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), said a report by the Associated Press (AP).

"Gates announced the donation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of a package of agricultural development grants during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland."

Read the entire article on GMANews.TV.

UPCAT 2008 Passers from Batangas State University

This list is incomplete and unofficial.

1. Betonio, Nahdiya Zaheer – Degree Program with Available Slot (UPLB)
2. Blanco, Chienny Joy – Degree Program with Available Slot (UPLB)
3. Cabanban, Kassandra Gem – BS Biology (UPLB)
4. Comia, Sheena Chryzl – Degree Program with Available Slot (UPLB)
5. Fajil, Delegene – BS Chemical Engineering (UPLB)
6. Mercado, Mark Kevin – BS Industrial Engineering (UPLB)
7. Mondala, Mark Adrian – BS Food Technology (UPLB)
8. Sucaldito, Pamela Grace – BS Computer Science (UPLB)
9. Valencia, Ronneth Andrea – BS Computer Science (UPB)
10. Villamor, Ann Gelyn – BS Biology (UPB)

Congratulations guys!

Go to the UPCAT Web site for the complete list of UPCAT 2008 Passers.

Yahoo! Messenger status message length

There was a recent change in Yahoo! Messenger’s status message length, reducing the maximum number of characters from 250 to 40. Sarah Bacon, the Product Manager for Yahoo! Messenger, explains on their team blog that “it was an inadvertent change and [they]’re working now on rolling it back to what it was (250 character max).”

So, be patient folks!

Update: The issue had already been fixed, as mentioned by Product Manager Sarah Bacon on the comments. For those who still can’t create status messages longer than 40 characters, please restart Yahoo! Messenger for the fix to take effect.

UP Manila Chorale at Y4iT 2007

The UP Manila Chorale will be performing live at the Y4iT Congress on September 12, 2007, 6:00 PM, at the SM North EDSA Cinema 9. Tickets are priced at PhP 60.00 each. Don’t dare miss it!

Classes suspended on August 3

Got the tip from Ma’am Jaki: According to a GMANews.tv article, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared today that August 3 is a “special, no-class holiday for college and high school students.”

“The announcement was made in Malacanang which said that the holiday was meant to ensure that students of voting age are registered for the upcoming Sangguniang Kabataan election on October 9,” according to GMA.

Interesting Read: The Human Security Act of 2007 (RA 9372)

Read the actual legislation [Adobe PDF] on the Senate of the Philippines Web site.

Coin toss breaks tie in Bontoc town council race

Source: INQUIRER.net

BONTOC, Mountain Province, Philippines – Two candidates for councilor here tied for the eighth and last place and an election officer suggested they flip a coin to determine the winner.

Are you joking? Stunned poll watchers asked Mary Umaming, municipal election supervisor, after she made the proposal.

People at the crowded municipal hall, where the tabulation took place, burst into laughter when Umaming readied the P5 coin for flipping. This eased the tension among the candidates and their supporters.

“The people were not expecting that tossing a coin was an option to break the tie. The people were laughing and asking me, ‘Are you joking?’ Umaming told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

Tossing a coin to break a tie might sound odd for voters but Umaming said this method was included in the Commission on Elections’ guidelines.

Aside from flipping a coin, another option was drawing lots to break the tie, she said.

The two candidates who were vying for the last slot were Brian Bellang, chief of the village of Alab here, and Benjamin Ngeteg, an incumbent municipal councilor of Bontoc.

Bellang, 37, a neophyte politician, chose heads and won.

“At first it was hard to explain the feeling when I won (through coin-tossing) but I was happy that I won,” he said.

Bellang said the exercise was fair for him and his contender.

“We talked about it when the coin-flipping was proposed to us. We both agreed to give way to each other. He is a relative after all. It was a gentleman’s agreement,” he said.

But for residents here, election was a time when tossing money for vote-buying was not a laughing matter.

Fr. Marion Buyagawan, chair of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting-National Movement for Free Elections in the Mt. Province, said vote-buying was so rampant, some residents called the May 14 elections the dirtiest in the province’s history.

“We had no culture of vote-buying before. But because of too much poverty, it was done. In the past, we elected our leaders according to their wisdom and integrity … Modern politics has changed some practices,” Buyagawan lamented.

In the village of Maligcong here, a woman cried when she was forced to take money. “Why are you forcing me to take this money? Are you forcing me to sell my vote,” she was overheard saying.

In the village of Balugan in Sagada town, elders on Tuesday night talked about how to eliminate vote-buying after a teacher allegedly distributed money given by a mayoral candidate.

Stickers with the message “We may be poor but we do not sell/buy votes” were posted at the Bontoc town center.

Batangas Election Update

Update 4 (May 22): Added winner for Lipa City Vice-Mayoralty Race. (I still can’t find sources for the Local Council race winners in Lipa).

Update 5 (May 22): Updated Vice-Gubernatorial race tallies to reflect final COMELEC tally. Leviste’s proclamation was suspended by COMELEC, so I wouldn’t say he won the race yet. Source: COMELEC, through Inquirer.net.

Gubernatorial Race: Santos-Recto, Rosa Vilma -winner

Vice-Gubernatorial Race (COMELEC, final tally):

1. Leviste Jose Antonio “Mark” II – 334,847 votes
2. Ermita, Edwin – 316,578 votes
3. De Leon, Christopher – 150,817 votes
4. Bustamante, Praxedes – 2,006 votes
5. Magsombol, Fortunata – 665 votes

Congressional Race, 2nd District: Mandanas, Hermilando – winner

Congressional Race, 4th District: Mendoza, Mark Llandro – winner

Mayoralty Race, Batangas City: Dimacuha, Eduardo – winner

Vice-Mayoralty Race, Batangas City: Tolentino, Jose – winner

Local Council Race, Batangas City: in no particular order

• Dimacuha, Nestor – winner
• Aclan, Manuel - winner
• Cruz, Renato – winner
• De Loyola-Portugal, Eloisa – winner
• Atienza, Carmela – winner
• Mariño, Mario Vittorio – winner
• Dela Roca, Gerardo – winner
• Ambida, Ricardo -winner
• Faytaren-Macaraig, Luisa – winner
• Villena, Julian – winner

Mayoralty Race, Lipa City: Gozos, Oscar – winner

Vice-Mayoralty Race, Lipa City: Lopez, Lydio – winner

Local Council Race, Lipa City: coming soon

If I were a voter…

… I’d vote for:

• Senators:
  • Angara, Edgardo (Ed)
  • Aquino, Benigno Simeon III (Noynoy)
  • Arroyo, Joker (Joker)
  • Coseteng, Anna Dominique (Nikki)
  • Defensor, Michael (Tol)
  • Escudero, Francis Joseph (Chiz)
  • Honasan, Gregorio (Gringo)
  • Lacson, Panfilo (Ping)
  • Legarda, Loren (Loren)
  • Recto, Ralph (Korecto)
  • Roco, Sonia (Inang Guro)
  • Sotto, Vicente III (Tito)
• Congressman/ Representative: Mandanas, Hermilando
• Governor: Santos-Recto, Vilma
• Vice-Governor: Ermita, Edwin
• Mayor: Dimacuha, Eduardo
• Vice-Mayor: Tolentino, Joe

Haha no hi omedetou!

Today is Haha no hi, or Mother’s Day! Don’t forget to greet your okasan!

A second “Earth”?

Just this morning reports from major press outlets refer to an “Earthlike” planet found in a nearby star system. According to a European Southern Observatory press release:

This exoplanet – as astronomers call planets around a star other than the Sun – is the smallest ever found up to now and it completes a full orbit in 13 days. It is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is from the Sun. However, given that its host star, the red dwarf Gliese 581, is smaller and colder than the Sun – and thus less luminous – the planet nevertheless lies in the habitable zone, the region around a star where water could be liquid! The planet’s name is Gliese 581 c.

Dangal ng Batangas

I found this nice video on YouTube. It seems that this “MTV” is related to Sanchez’s campaign.

This is an outrage!

Telecom giant GLOBE Telecom announced recently a 100%-150% rate increase in their unlimited text service (Unlimitxt, now Unlitxt). The new rates are PhP20/1day, PhP40/2days, PhP80/4days from the old PhP15/1day, PhP25/2days and PhP50/5days. As response to the consumer outrage over the new rates, the National Telecommunications Commission ordered GLOBE to rollback to the old rates, but the company defied it, stating “it [was] invalid.”

Consumer group TXTPower launched a campaign to boycott all GLOBE Telecom’s services on February 7^th. From their blog:

TXTPower’s call for a boycott asks subscribers incensed by Globe’s intransigence to choose any or all of the following:

• Avoid SMS and Calls through the Globe network. Find other ways to communicate.
• Postpone automatic and card reloads
• Postpone GCash transactions
• Postpone line applications
• Refrain from getting icon/music/visual downloads from Globe
• Refrain from using Globe’s GPRS and 3G services

…

TXTPower said the boycott will be lifted once Globe obeys the NTC order and rolls back the price of unlimited texting service.

As a GLOBE subscriber myself, I am disgusted by these hike rates. GLOBE is worse than $MART, now, more than ever. Let us just hope that GLOBE will realize this terrible mistake before it’s too late (when I finally switch networks).