racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

When we moved into our current apartment about six months ago, we got ourselves a telephone line (for the DSL I needed for work) and phone service (it’s just PhP 300 on top of the DSL fee, after all). I wasn’t too happy with having a single telephone apparatus with our two-storey apartment, so I thought we should get a cordless phone, too. After much window shopping, I decided on the Vtech 2151, which came with caller ID and a digital answering machine. And it was cheap (only about PhP 2,400 or so).

I’ve always had this fascination for answering machines. I love how you could record wacky messages for your callers (like Hello … Hello … Please leave a message.). I dig how you could monitor calls before actually answering (even if you have caller ID this is really fun). It’s cool how you could call in from a remote location to check if anyone left messages.

Most of all, I’m really fascinated with how people talk when there’s nobody at the other end of the line.

Two-way interaction is normal. You talk, the other person reacts. It’s even a whole different thing when you’re talking in person than when you’re just on the phone. After all, communication is mostly body language and tone. The actual content of the message is just a small part of what you get to communicate.

It’s helluva lot different when you’re recording a message and talking to no one on the other line. It feels weird. It’s like holding a video camera to your face, recording a message. You try to imagine someone is at the other end. But no one’s there.

Or at least that’s how I feel. And I would think that’s how most of my callers feel.

My answering machine hasn’t met much action in the four months it’s been installed. It has recorded something in the likes of a couple of dozen messages. And the legitimate ones I could probably just count with my fingers. Most just hang up (I know who you are! I have you on CID!).

I don’t think we’re much of an _answering machine culture_.

You see it often in the western TV shows and films. People like leaving messages on answering machines (or voicemail as some would prefer). But leaving voicemail seems too confrontational. It’s like saying _hey you weren’t there so here’s what I have to say_. And Filipinos are not too confrontational. And we probably feel downright weird monologuing.

We’re more of a _texting culture_. We probably prefer to text rather than call because we can escape the responsibility of actually relaying a message other than the words that we speak or write (and it’s cheaper, too). But the message then becomes bland. There is no body language. There are no intonations. There’s just words flashing out of a small screen.

Same with email. Probably same with IM.

I know it’s a serious caller–or rather a caller with an important/serious/interesting message–when he or she really takes the time to leave a message. Even if the voice message seems incoherent, or the English (or Tagalog) is bad, or the background is noisy, it’s all right with me. The point is that the person tried to reach me (or anyone here at my place), and in the absence of human response, he still tries to at least inform me that he would like to talk.

For more useless reading about the answering machine culture, check out these great finds. Old (and longish), but still interesting.

2007 is mid-term election season here in the Philippines. Every three years, we get to elect local officials from lowest (barangay, or town) level up to national Senate level (senators have alternating six-year terms). And this is one of those years.

I wasn’t able to register as a voter–I have never done so in my entire life. Those who know me would probably recall that I prefer to be apolitical. I prefer to effect change through other means, and this is mostly because I’ve lost hope in the local political system. I’ve been part of government before, and I can say I had grown further disillusioned and disappointed with how things are run here.

But then again somehow I feel it’s time to make a change, especially with regard to helping our country’s political system grow. I’ve been observing politics in other countries–particularly in the West–and one thing I notice is that their political systems are mostly platform-based. They have strong party systems. In contrast, here in the Philippines politics is mostly personality-based. And we have a weak party system.

If in the US, Democrats stand for one thing and Republicans for another, here in the Philippines, most parties seem to give empty promises of poverty alleviation, job security and economic improvement, but there really is no solid, observable and viable platform. Or at least once people get elected, no one is sure if they ever follow through on their promises/platforms.

Sometimes I’m not sure whom to blame: the politicians or the electorate ourselves. After all, it’s the citizenry that elects people into positions of power.

So here’s my crazy idea

Political blogging is very popular in the west. In fact, a lot of blogs and bloggeres have grown to A-list status in election seasons by outing irregularities or helping out candidates.

As a blogger, I would like to do the same. But given that I do not identify myself with any party or candidate, I would like to invite candidates for this year’s elections (local or national) to collaborate with me on this endeavor.

The concept is simple. I (probably along with a handful of other bloggers) will be writing about candidates, their lives, their political parties, and their platforms during this campaign season. I still have to decide whether it will be on my personal blogs (which have better coverage and readership), or a new site altogether. Now this wouldn’t be the standard press-release like postings. We’ll do it as bloggers do–with honesty, candidness and straightforwardness (with a dash of our own insights, of course). This makes for good _new media_ coverage, no?

But it doesn’t end there. If and once that candidate wins the election, I will continue blogging about his/her activities as an incumbent, and through this we will see if that candidate has indeed followed through on election platforms/promises.

So for instance, he’s a Senatorial candidate who has campaigned on the platform of job creation, the people will know if the committees he’s become part of, the bills he’s authored, and other decisions and activities, are part of improving the employment situation in the country. Or if a candidate for City Mayor runs on the platform of cleaning up the city government of corruption, we will see if his activities once elected would, indeed, reflect that platform.

I’m aware that several local organizations are already focusing on blogging about politics, such as PCIJ, but they’re approaching it from journalists’ perspectives (particularly investigative journalism), and of course there is a difference. I would rather approach it as a citizen. Okay, let me be the devil’s advocate here. Let’s assume that all people are good and that political candidates have their prospective constituents’ best interests in mind.

I’m all ears!

If you’re running for office, let me blog about you, and _with_ you. You can get in touch with me directly here. And I’m hoping communication lines keep open, so I can continue to help with the transparency. After all, elected officials should be accountable to their constituents.

Is anyone willing to be part of this?

_Image source_

You may be getting “bandwidth exceeded” errors my blog and others on the racoma.com.ph domain. Sorry for that. Our sites seem to be more popular this December than they were in the past. Perhaps it’s because of the recent inclusion of my mom’s blog (aptly named The D Spot) on the server. Or perhaps it’s due to my starting with my newest assignment on the Blog Herald (hey, I’m now on the “friends” blogroll).

So how did your Christmas celebrations go? We spent the past two weeks attending _simbang gabi_ or dawn masses. We couldn’t get up at dawn, though, so we made sure to attend the anticipated masses in the preceding evening. The kids started to get sick a couple of weeks ago, though, so we weren’t able to go out much. We actually only got to go out buy presents on the 24th, so everything was a rush.

The holidays are a bad time to get sick!

Anyway, we spent the evening attending Christmas eve mass and had _noche buena_ (Christmas eve dinner) with the family.

Speaking of getting sick during the holidays, my family was supposed to go out of town this week, and my parents have been planning the trip since the start of the month. My wife and I were having second thoughts, though, because of the distance (a six to eight hour drive). And with the kids catching the bug, we decided against joining. Midnight of the 25th (after the Christmas celebrations), my sister was admitted to the hospital for abdominal pains. And guess what–she had to undergo surgery this Christmas morning for appendicitis. Now the entire trip had been cancelled.

Everyone’s still happy, though, especially the kids. Now if I can only say the same for my wallet and bank account.

Merry Christmas everyone!

This is what I think of the latest issue hounding the local blogosphere of late. Let me direct you to Abe’s post about it, which seemed to have jumpstarted the discussions. A certain Kenneth Ocampo has been on an email campaign and online petition against Filipino blogger bryanboy.

I am writing to you with hopes that you spread our outrage. We’re appalled that one of the country’s top bloggers is an anti-christ. How dare he make a joke out of Jesus by posting disturbing photos on his blog.
…
Please spread the word about this sinner and help us with our petition.

Inq7.net recently covered the story, too, care of Erwin Oliva.

Filipino blogger Bryanboy has angered Filipino Catholic Christians this week after posting a controversial photo in his blog on October 30, 2006.

The photos featured a British man doing a pose in Bryanboy fashion beside a statue of Jesus Christ on a cross.

His post generated mixed reactions on the Internet, including an online petition that labeled the gay Filipino blogger an “antichrist.” The petition was addressed to the Catholic Church, and it urged Bryanboy to remove offending pictures on his website.

Ad Hominem

I will run the risk of being branded as self-righteous and a hypocrite if I took a stab at things from a religious perspective. Yes, I am a practicing Catholic, and I try to live my life according to morally-acceptable standards (at least to a good majority of the world’s population).

But let’s try to be objective here. Those on the morality side of the debate say that bryanboy is evil and should be sent to the deepest pits of hell. Those on the freedom of expression side say that the moralists are nothing but self-righteous hypocrites who aren’t without sin themselves.

Isn’t this an immature way to go about with a discussion? Last time I checked, _ad hominem_ is still a logical fallacy, and IMHO one of the most pathetic ways to go about with an argument.

Decency

I can say that bryanboy’s posting was done in bad taste, and is against common decency. I wouldn’t go as far as comment on the photos themselves, bryanboy’s sexual orientation, and whatnot (I’m not one to judge). But the title itself and bryanboy’s short note are something to be unhappy about–one does not use God’s name alongside an expletive and expect the people concerned to just stand there.

Notice the title.

And this is not only limited to Christians. I do agree with one commenter on Yugatech that if it were Muslims that bryanboy insulted, the reaction could have been far greater. Remember the Apple NYC Cube fiasco I wrote about on Apple Gazette a while back? Propagandists were successful at inciting religious hatred by pitting religion against religion (well, almost, since love for Apple is considered a religion by some). We were able to dig deeper into the matter, and discovered that the “news” sites involved were of questionable intent.

Think Before You Publish!

Here’s my take on the matter. Bloggers are, indeed, free to post whatever they please on their blogs. That’s the beauty of the blogosphere. However, this can also get ugly. The blogosphere can also be full of crap. And people can be haphazard with what they post. True, the blogosphere tends to be self-correcting–it’s _publish then filter_ as opposed to editing before publication in traditional media. But by the time the issue has been cleared up, the damage would’ve already been done.

Since bloggers do not have editors and publishers to review and filter our material, like with mainstream media, it’s up to us to be responsible with what we post. If you intend to incite strong reactions among your readership, then so be it. But it’s always good to consider the concepts of decency and respect in whatever you write. You may not necessarily rot in hell or get excommunicated by the Church, but people who do insulting stuff like the above out of fun are plain ol’ arses in my book.

Responsibility

Alex goes as far as saying that responsibility goes both ways: for both the consumers and producers of content.

What I could suggest is for readers to be open-minded yet critical to what the Internet has to offer. We could all choose not to view bryanboy .com if we want to. We all know that the Web is a war zone of good and bad information. And for Filipino adults wary about children reading such material as what is found in bryanboy .com, download and use any one of these [parental filters]. This issue all boils down to one’s responsibility to oneself and to others.

I think those who have greater power should have the heavier burden of responsibility (has anyone watched _Spiderman_ lately?). The people who started the petition against bryanboy may not have been too familiar with the realm of blogging, hence their means of responding may not be as strong or effective (emails? free online petition sites?). So I think those of us who have a better grasp of the medium should take it upon ourselves to do something. And I don’t mean by taking sides. You may stand on either side of the argument (or neither), but what’s important is to always keep in mind our responsibility as publishers.

One of the benefits of blogging for advocacy is the attention one gets from the movers and shakers. My being part of the PayPal for the Philippines campaign has caught the attention of execs in the electronic payments industry, as well as business owners who are into e-commerce (either planning to start selling online, or already have ongoing e-commerce setups). In fact, whenever I attend EBs and blogger get-togethers I’m usually referred to as the PayPal guy. It’s good to be identified with something.

I had dinner–and a few beers–with the top honchos of YES Payments last night to discuss the possibility of their offering P2P e-payment facilities in the country. This is my second meeting with them, so far, and it was great that we were able to exchange ideas freely. I related the needs of the freelance/problogger/developer community in the country, and they told us about the issues that e-payment providers continually face in the line of their doing business.

It’s All About Risk!

The foremost concerns of any business doing e-payments are security and fraud. When money is involved, there is always the chance of one party defrauding another party, or one party defrauding the system itself. So there is always risk. And the issue is determining which party bears the risk, for the system to work. In some cases, it’s the seller that bears the risk. In some, it’s the operator of the e-payment facility.

Fraud can be perpetrated a number of ways.

* Buyer uses stolen card/card details. Card owner disputes. Chargeback is paid (paid back by seller). If the seller has already sent the goods, it’s his loss.
* Seller does not send the goods or goes under. Card owner disputes. Chargeback is paid by the facility. It’s the facility’s loss.
* Buyer uses legitimate card to pay for transaction. Seller sends the goods. Buyer receives the goods, but claims otherwise. Buyer files a dispute. Seller pays chargeback thru the facility. It’s the seller’s loss.

There are even more ways–don’t get any ideas from me! The point is that there are loopholes that can be exploited. So there the system has to consider the trust factor.

For the most part, dealing with the risk is a big headache to the e-payment facility because of regulatory requirements. I never realized that the banking system asks so much of these companies–there are big guarantees, there are limitations, and there are requirements for compliance with several laws, both local and international. And even the card companies like Mastercard and Visa require a lot, such as security of transactions, regular auditing and subscription costs–something in the range of $15,000 per year (or is it monthly?), which, while affordable to big companies, can be a steep amount for small players.

Social Engineering

On top of these risks, there is one difficulty faced by e-payment businesses particularly in countries like the Philippines without a strong judicial system. Fraud is not so difficult to detect. YES cites cases where fraudulent transactions were flagged, but allowed to push through so the perpetrators can be caught in the act. The problem is once the criminals were caught, the inefficient and corrupt judicial system was not capable of warranting adequate punishment.

Hence, perpetrators can expect be let go with just a slap on the wrist. I can also imagine cases where either the judges or the police personnel could be bribed.

We come back to the issue of risk. E-payment facilities may not be so keen on setting up shop here because they know the risk of fraud is high. Even worse, the risk of fraud not being properly addressed by the law is even a bigger threat. Fraud can be minimized if the legal system is good enough to be a deterrent to people planning to commit crime. But if one knows the system can be gamed, then people will go lie, cheat and steal their way to getting a fast buck.

A Problem of Circularity

So which came first? The chicken or the egg? (Sorry for using a cliché–it sucks, I know.)

I earlier made a bold claim that having good e-payment facilities here in the country–particularly PayPal–would be beneficial to the Philippine economy. However, it turns out that most players (probably PayPal included) would only be open to servicing the country if they can be mitigate or minimize the risks of fraud.

Perhaps for large players like PayPal it’s a bit easier. For small players, it could be a challenge.

Facilities for SMEs and Individuals

YES is considering opening a facility for P2P transactions for the purpose of business and commerce. While they don’t have such a system in place right now, they do have YES Payments for SMEs and YES Pinoy for remittance. None of these services can be used by individuals like myself for receiving payments for goods or services rendered, though. YES Payments works for businesses (well, this does not preclude individuals or groups of individuals from registering as a business). YES Pinoy, meanwhile works for P2P transactions between people with existing relationships–you have to prove you’re related to the person sending money, whether he/she is a family member, relative or friend.

I had been mentioning existing services that could do P2P, like Xoom, which fellow problogger Abe has been recommending, and which I’ve also been using. YES is positioning itself as a strong player in the country because of its presence and support. They actually do have an office here, and they do accept support calls. I think that’s an advantage. I actually tried calling Xoom support once thru their 1-800 number, but since they’re based in California, their office hours are quite off when calling from the Philippines.

What’s Next

If–and once–YES gets their planned P2P service up and running anytime soon, would there be people willing to be part of a test group? Just tell me, so we can make the necessary arrangements.

As for PayPal for the Philippines, it’s a continuing advocacy. PayPal may have already set up here, but it’s still very limited. We can only use the service to pay or send money online, and not receive (not even to load up the account). We’re still pushing for full functionality. If you have not yet signed up, please do so. We would also appreciate any support (such as linking to us and/or displaying our banners).