My PAG IBIG Fund Visit May 18, 2010

Galing ako sa Pag Ibig Fund sa Makati branch nila kanina. Pangalawang dalaw ko. ito ang ahensya ng gobyerno na nangangasiwa sa pagpapabahay ng mga Pilipino na nagnanais na magkaroon ng sarili nilang bahay sa pamamagitan ng pag papaluwal ng pondo ng gobyerno. Sabi nila kasi mas madali daw makapag loan sa ngayon dahil sa pamamahala ni VP NOLI DE CASTRO. Napapanahon kasi ngayon ang Real Estate dahil mababa ang singil nila at maganda ang mga programang inihatag sa ating mga manggagawa. Pinataas ang halaga na maari mong mahiram at mabayaran sa mas murang halaga at mas pinahaba na panaho. May mga amnestiya rin sa mga hindi nakakahulog ng sapat. Marahil nababagay si Kabayan Noli sa kaniyang ahensya sapagkat bingyan niyang halaga ang pinakamahalagang bagay sa atin Pilipino. Ito ang magkaroon ng sariling bahay sa murang halaga. Alam naman natin na napakahirap ng buhay sa Pilipinas at hindi madali ang makahanap ng trabaho at makaipon. Ngayon may bago na tayong presidente at malamang ay papalitan na si Kabayan Noli. Nagdarasal ako na sana manatili siya sapagkat sa pamunuan ni Gloria siya lang ata ang hindi napabalitang tiwali sa trabaho, maliban sa kanyang personal na buhay.

Maikwento ko lang ang nangyari sa pagdalaw ko sa ahensya kanina. Napasyal kasi ako sa Pag Ibig dahil nag try ako mag loan…medyo comedy pa nga ang nangyari kasi pagdating namin dun sabi kumuha kami ng number sa 2nd table. Binigyan niya kami ng green number 21, pagkatapos naghanap na kami ng mauupuan. Medyo maraming tao at may kainitan sa loob ng ahensya. Biglang sumigaw yung babae ng “no. 23″ hanggang sa naubos na ang numbers. Lapit ako ng lapit sa frontdesk at tanong ng tanong kung tinawag na ba ang 21. Ang sabi hindi pa, eh nagulat ako nang biglang tawagin ang green no. 1. Kaya naman pala eh inubos muna nila ang blue na numbers pagkatapos ay sunod na tatawagin ang green numbers. Eh kahit naman pala maaga akong pumunta kung ang siste ay uubusin muna ang isang kulay ay hindi ka nga maaga matatapos sa pakay mo sa ahensya. Eh paano kung ikaw ay naiinip na tapos naglagay ka ng headset para pampalipas oras, tas tinawag na pala number mo? Magugulat ka na lang na wala na palang tao at ayun nilampasan ka na pala. Sana gawin nilang mas maayos ang sistema sa pagpila sa pag aayos ng mga kakailanganin sa pagpa file ng loans para sa gayon ay hindi maabala ang bawat isa at hindi maantala ang ang pakay natin. Kasi hindi lang naman ito ang pinagkaka abalahan natin sa araw araw, lalo na kung kinailangan mo pang lumiban sa trabaho para lang maasikaso ito.

i-click lamang ang link upang mare-direct sa website ng PAGIBIG FUND

http://www.pagibigfund.gov.ph/

MERALCO, DOUBLE UP! May 18, 2010

I am eager to see what’s my electric bill this month because I’ve been hearing a lot of fuzz about the increase in generation charge. I got the envelope now and drum roll please! WTF! I almost threw the bill instantly in garbage with the amount. We are in the middle class family in the Philippines. Let me give you a rundown of our bill, January to February our bill was around Php2100, March it was Php2800 then come April it went to PhP4700! It was almost 100% which is definitely not acceptable for our family class. The thing is we are all minimizing our electric consumption and yet we are being punished by this ridiculous increase with the generation charge? I’m very sorry MERALCO if we are putting up things on to you. The reason is we are paying you as the company who supplies us with our electric needs!

Inserted in the bill is a disclaimer explaining that the increase on the generation charge does not go directly to Meralco as an income, but it is being used as a payment for suppliers like NPC, IPP and WESM.

Everyone is pointing fingers against each other and who’s being punished here, but we of course the consumers. I may not take collegiate course understanding electric distribution but I clearly understand that there is something wrong out there and we are being robbed of our own hard earned money!. How can our bill increase to almost a 100% if we are only 3 in the house with 1 AC which only runs at night, my child goes to school the whole day, we never iron clothes at home, 1 LCD TV (220v), 1 ref, a laptop which is charged most of the time at work. How can this be? Even if you send this literature about saving electricity it makes no sense if you have limited electric appliances at home. On my restday my child and I always go out in the mall to cool down in order not to be tempted in using the AC during the day!

To the Philippine government, here us out please. You have been passing different bills and laws against almost anything. How come you haven’t passed any law which protect us consumers.

Click on the link to try to understand their distribution of fees and the increase in generation costs. I wanted to comprehend the table provided but I hate to do it because of the amount alone already dismayed me.

May 20 2010

Follow up story. I just got our April-May statement and the bill was a whoppin Php6475! It was waaayyy too much. We are carrying all of the weight in paying expensive electric bills wherein they are also imposing rotationary brownouts. Don’t you think it’s just too much of a burden. The amount alone could be used as a payment for my daughter’s school upon enrolment fee. With the new President I hope he could do something about it because we all know that his family is close to the Lopez’s. There must be something that he could do for us. We are not asking for a drastic decrease in meralco bills but trying to do something about it is one big step already.

link:

http://www.meralco.com.ph/Corporate/rates/gentrans.htm

Philippines 2010 Automated Election May 10, 2010

I just finished voting. Well after waiting in line for 2 1/2 hours. In comparison with the previous election that I’ve experience this is a long waiting period. I’m a bit disappointed because the election officers weren’t that strict when it comes to implementing election policies.

Before going to the precinct my brother and I went online first to check and printout our precinct numbers. This is to avoid inconvenience and long waiting in line when we get there. Unfortunately we are not in the same precinct, he was in 666A Pilar Elementary School lucky for him though because he was with my cousin in the same precinct. My precinct number was 596A Almanza Uno Elementary School. So I have to go there by myself. Knowing the school location and thru the info online there were more than 20,000 registed voters in Alanza Elementarty School. It was a bit difficult looking up for my precinct because of the number of people in every cluster. Finally, after about 20-30 minutes I found my precinct as I expected a long line of people waiting.

The first step is to look for your precinct. Then look for your name and note you number. Then you will be guided to a holding room to wait. In my case I waited for 2 hours. I got there at 9.30am then i was completely done at around 11.30am. There were only 10 people allowed to get inside the voting room at a time which is evidently causing the delay. One voter will take around 10-15 minutes to cast their votes. Some are taking more then the expected time because of machine problem and the clerical problems at the precinct.

Like yung senior citizen sa harap ko tapos na siya bumoto, nahulog na sa PCOS machine ballot niya, nalagyan na ng indelible ink pero wala pala name niya sa masterlist ng comelec. So nung mahanap ang name niya, hindi naman niya picture yung nasa list of voters. Naiinis na si lola, so bumulong yung teacher sabi niya pa “thumbmark mo na yan matagal na siya dito”. They saw me looking at them as I was waiting with their next step, and hindi man lang nahiya sinabi nila kay lola “thumbmark na po”, sabi ni lola “hindi ko picture yan”, sabi ni teacher “OK NA YAN LOLA”. Si lola sa inis niya walang nagawa kundi nag thumbmark na lang. then sabay alis na. I butted in and said to the teacher ayos yun ginawa ninyo ah, ilang daya na ba nagawa ninyo. The teacher turned her back at me to assist other voters who will scan their ballots. As if she didn’t hear me. tsk tsk tsk. Eh kung wala may mali pala sa picture ni lola eh bakit siya pinaboto. Kasi mali ang proseso ng pagboto sa atin. Pinatagal na nga eh di sana binigyan man lang ng konting integridad ang bawat balotang ipapasok sa loob ng PCOS machine. Maiintindihan ko naman kung ang dahilan ng pagiging mabagal na pag usad ng pila eh kung mahigpit na ipinapatupad ang mga polocies sa pagboto, pero hindi eh! This happened at Almanza Elementary school Precint no. 596D. I hope you will be vigilant, and observant while voting today. God bless the new next president, God bless us all as a nation and God bless the Philippines.