By Alvin Capino Posted on Jan. 21, 2013 at 12:01am
The description of Mindanao as the “Land of Promise” coined during the Magsaysay administration when the government was trying to convince people from Luzon and the Visayas to migrate to this major southern island group is very appropriate.
Indeed, after more than 50 years, Mindanao can still be described as the “Land of Promise” as the government-promised progress and development is still that – mostly a promise.
What is more lamentable is the fact that despite the festering insurgency problems from Muslim separatists and leftist rebels, Mindanao was on the verge of an economic take off when it got hit by a power crisis that is as bad as the one that hit Luzon and most of the Philippines during the Cory Aquino administration.
At one point, many areas in Mindanao suffered rotating 12-hour blackouts that naturally adversely affected once-booming businesses from tuna exports to internet shops and made life generally miserable to people living there.
It is good to note, however, that the Mindanao power crisis that other national political personalities have joined Mindanao political leaders in asking the government to do something to address the situation in the light of prospects that the power shortage problem instead of getting better is growing worse.
Among those who have expressed concern about the worsening power situation in Mindanao is San Juan Rep. JV Ejercito Estrada, who must have seen the situation in Mindanao firsthand in his trips to Mindanao in preparation for his senatorial bid.
Ejercito Estrada said we should all realize that the problem of Mindanao affects the whole Philippines.
He said: “Mindanaoans are now reeling from the failure of the government to act on the power crisis two years ago, when the problem was easier to solve. The government wasted precious time.”
He supported the call of Mindanao leaders for the immediate rehabilitation of the Agus-Pulangui hydropower complex which supplies more than half of Mindanao’s power supply. The hydropower complex is currently producing only 635 megawatts of its 982 megawatt capacity due to the heavy siltation of the rivers that power the complex.
Ejercito Estrada cited the situation in Zamboanga City which will soon experience three-hour brownouts because of the announced decision of the National Power Corporation (Napocor) to reduce power supply in the city by 10 megawatts.
According to Ejercito Estrada, the brownouts, which have eased somewhat after the operation of the expensive power barges to augment Mindanao power supply, is expected to return as power in Mindanao was cut by 189 megawatts as of January 10 based on information coming from the National Grid Corp.
He said the reduction of power supply to Mindanao could cripple business activities in the region. “Power outages will lower the productivity of local businesses and harm Mindanao’s economy. These power outages are definitely an injustice to businessmen and consumers alike.”
He said businessmen from Mindanao especially those from the Zamboanga area have told him that the power situation would worsen when sardine manufacturers resume full operation in March following the lifting of a three-month ban on sardine fishing imposed by the government in the Zamboanga peninsula.
Ejercito Estrada said that the Mindanao economic takeoff will succeed only if there is enough power to support increased commerce and industrial activities. “It cannot afford power interruptions that drive away investors and lead to huge productivity losses.”
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I have always been a Globe subscriber and I have always wondered if there is truth to all the talks that those who use Smart are getting a better deal than those who are loyal to Globe.
Apparently it is true and no less than the National Telecommunications Commission has confirmed the edge of Smart over Globe.
According to news reports based on NTC’s 4th Quarter quality of service benchmarking results for mobile network service providers for blocked calls or grade of service which refers to the percentage of calls that were not given access by the network Smart was measured at 1 percent versus Globe’s 2 percent.
On dropped call rate or the percentage of on-going calls that were involuntarily terminated, Smart had 1 percent dropped calls compared to Globe’s 1.2 percent.
For average receive signal level which refers to the signal strength provided by the serving cell site to the cellular phone of the subscriber as indicated by the signal bars in the cell phone, NTC said Smart had an edge over Globe.
Smart was measured at -64.49dBm while Globe registered at -71.78dBM.
I am not giving up on Globe yet. Globe has not yet completed its multi-million dollar massive expansion program which will be in place in Metro Manila only in the first quarter this year.
But if Globe’s expansion program is completed and Smart’s service is still superior, then the smart things to do might be to change service providers. source
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