An explosion occurred in the entrance lobby of the Philippines’ House of Representatives in Manila on Tuesday and at least six people were injured, according to local radio station reports.
Two lower house members are among the injured, the reports said, adding that three cars parked outside the building were also damaged.
The blast occurred just after 8 p.m., the reports said.
TechCrunch reports that social networking site Multiply has scored a multi-year ad deal with ABS-CBN, a big local media network: “Under terms of the agreement, ABS-CBN interactive will sell advertising and mobile services for Multiply’s Filipino users, with the two companies sharing revenues.”
Filipinos eagerly use many US-based online services, particularly social networking sites. The top 10 most visited sites in the Philippines (according to Alexa) are all founded or based in America. Friendster has long been the local champ, while Multiply steadily attracts converts and new users. MySpace comes in at #14.
This isn’t the first time that US-based businesses have found more success abroad. Kenny Rogers Roasters survived in the Philippines while it closed many locations and underwent major restructuring back home. And while Friendster is past its prime, as far as a Google buyout is concerned, it still scores a healthy amount of traffic from its Filipino users—which has driven a regular rise in its Alexa rankings.
Meanwhile, this isn’t the only Asian country Stern has his eye on. He also left open the possibility of going to the Philippines, which, under the radar, has become a very promising market.
“That’s been a most popular market for us in terms of TV and the like, and the economy is improving, so that’s something we’re looking at, as well,” Stern said.
For a country of relatively short people, the Philippines is pretty passionate about basketball. Today’s local cagers may be far away from the glory days of Mon Fernandez, Jawo, and so many others. But who knows? If local talent sees full-fledged NBA stars in action, they may actually be inspired to finally develop the skills and athleticism needed to match the home-based fervor.
Of course, I may be getting ahead of myself. Yet there’s still no doubt that hosting an NBA pre-season game next year would be great for the people and reputation of the Philippines. And the dreams of kids and scalpers alike will come true.
MSNBC reports that over “5.5 million Filipinos now use their cell phones as virtual wallets, making the Philippines a leader among developing nations in providing financial transactions over mobile networks.”
Not really a surprise, considering that there are over 41 million mobile users in a country of at least 85 million. Local service operators have set up e-wallet services to take advantage of the large Filipino OFW population looking for a secure and prompt way of sending money back home to their loved ones.
Despite the lack of apparent high-technology in the Philippines, I really believe that technology-based companies can thrive in the country. It’s just a matter of taking an approach and using marketing that suits the population’s needs and tastes.
In case you didn’t know, ABC is the network behind Desperate Housewives, which is why they were the ones who publicized an apology regarding that show’s infamous line.
I received the following email from a source, forwarded from Perry Diaz, the editor of BALITA USA. It’s a bit long, but I think it’s worth the read:
In a letter to Jon Melegrito, Communications Director of NaFFAA, the ABC Senior Vice President of Diversity, Mr. Robert Mendez, agreed to explore a program that might help increase opportunities for Filipinos at ABC. This was in response to my PerryScope article, “Desperate Housewives’ Wake Up Call to Filipinos,” which Mr. Melegrito forwarded to Mr. Mendez.
In my PerryScope article I proposed a win-win solution to the imbroglio created by the September 30, 2007, episode of “Desperate Housewives” in which a character said, “Okay, before we go any further, can I check those diplomas? Because I would just like to make sure they are not from a med school in the Philippines. ” Instead of a lawsuit and boycott which have been suggested by many community leaders, I recommended that we should instead be proactive — not reactive — and put together an agenda that would give long-term benefits to our community such as jobs, education and other initiatives. I indicated that we should convince ABC to open employment opportunities to Filipino-Americans at all levels — actors, directors, producers, newscasters, and executives at ABC and its affiliates.
In celebration of Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao’s second victory over Marco Antonio Barrera (full story), here’s a rare ad that has impact:
Manny’s trials and ultimate triumph, backed up the Philippine national anthem and its ending words: Ang Mamatay ng Dahil sa ‘yo (rough English translation: Your sons die for us).
When PayPal Philippines users were finally able to receive funds, this development still carried some caveats. Good thing UnionBank recently made life a little easier.
As Ely writes, the local bank facilitates the receipt of PayPal funds:
You transfer your money from PayPal to your UnionBank Account. It takes around 5-7 days to clear. When it does, you can then withdraw the cash. [through a debit card]
There’s also a $10 transfer fee, but this is still a more convenient and secure setup which doesn’t involve handling actual money until you really need it. Great news for Filipinos who wanted to take advantage of the numerous opportunities online, but simply didn’t have the ability to receive payments. Now they have one less excuse not to go for it!
PayPal is easily most popular e-commerce business today. Aside from being used by numerous online employers and moneymaking tools, the company handled over $11 billion in transactions during the fourth quarter of 2006 alone.
“The producers of the show and ABC studios offer our sincere apology for any offence caused by the brief reference in the season premier,” ANC quoted the statement as saying.
“There was no intent to disparage the integrity of any aspect of the medical community in the Philippines,” it said.
Aside from the Binbining Pilipinas (Ms. Philippines), another beauty pageant that receives a decent amount of attention is Miss Bicolandia. This contest is held during the annual Peñafrancia Festival in Naga, and attracts contenders from all over the Bicol region.
This year’s winner is Tabetha Jo O. Frick, a native of the beach town Pasacao, Camarines Sur. Check out Mark’s photo gallery and Gayon Bicolandia’s pre-pageant photos for more Bicolana beauties.
PS: The Naga City Government has a pretty useful website (what else would you expect from Mayor Robredo?). Check out naga.gov.ph.
This is a boon for publishers based in countries like the Philippines, where PayPal doesn’t allow you to receive money and AdSense check fraud is a growing problem. It’s no wonder that searching for “adsense western union” brings up a list of mostly Philippine blogs.
Pick ups are possible the day after the AdSense payments are released, which is much better than wondering how long it will take for your check to arrive in the mail. You also don’t have to pay $24 for a secure check delivery via DHL, only the cost of your trip to the local remittance center.
Of course, this setup is also open to fraud. Even with Western Union’s stricter identification requirements, a conman can still pretend to be you. I guess the best way to minimize AdSense payment fraud, and make sure people receive the money they so richly deserve, is to send payments via wire transfers direct to a publisher’s bank account. What say you Google?
