We can trust the Senate if…

For our special presentation on our talk show Straight from the Sky, we bring you a very interesting discussion about the Internet or the Information Highway, which is perhaps next to the airplane that has made the world smaller. In the past, communication between people was done through the telegraph in the late 1800s and later in the 1900s it evolved into the telephone.

But the technological advancement of the 21st Century has brought a convergence of these inventions. Your smartphone today has text messaging, which replaced the telegraph, a telephone, and a TV screen where you can watch the news on mobile TV or movies and listen to your songs or write your mail. Indeed that smartphone in your hand may have all these technological wonders, but it is quite a complex machine especially on how the Internet Highway travels with lightning speeds.

One of the biggest concerns brought up recently by our social networking sites is Internet congestion and cost. People have seen the graphs that Internet speeds in the Philippines are woefully slow, while we are paying a higher cost as compared to our ASEAN neighbors. This is something that needs to be explained. However a great number of people do not understand the workings of the Internet, which is quite intricate and complex.

This is why tonight we bring you Mr. Frederick Amores, officer-in-charge of the Information Communications Technology of the Department of Science and Technology. For instance he told me that cellsite speeds are stronger in Mandaue City than in Cebu City… or that if you have LTE on your phone… the fastest LTE site in Cebu City is in Plaza Independencia. All these can be monitored in his office.

So watch this very interesting show tonight on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. Replays can also be see on MyTV channel 30 at 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

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With the turmoil on the Pork Scandal happening in the House of Representatives, Sen. Sergio “Serge” Osmeña III has asked the Filipino people to “Trust the process being followed by the Senate.” Sen. Serge said this over the radio, “The Filipino voters are intelligent. They will know the truth, partial truths, and half-truths in these lists. The process is not yet over. We will be going through more hearings. We will try to dig up the additional evidence. If there is no evidence to back up those lists, the committee will report this out anyway.”

Trust the Senate to investigate itself? Sen. Serge Osmeña III must think that the Filipino people are fools! He says that Filipino voters “are intelligent” but he knows the truth too well that the Filipino voters have been bought by politicians, which is why they take liberties in getting back the money they spent buying those votes. Now those senators and congressmen have been caught red-handed. So pray tell me, do we trust the Senate? Not on your life! We can’t even trust the police, much more the Senate!

I can understand why Serge Osmeña is asking us to ‘trust the Senate” because he is part and parcel of the Political Elite that has ruled this nation since the EDSA Revolt in 1986 which allowed him to return from exile from the United States. He wasn’t even in EDSA when the Filipino people rose up against the Marcos dictatorship. But he certainly “profited” from his return to a comfortable political life. Before we can trust the Senate, I dare Sen. Serge Osmeña to open up their respective bank accounts so we’ll know for sure who made money from the coffers of the government.

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Last Friday evening, we attended a simple ceremony at the Radisson Blu hosted by Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines, Neil Reader who announced to us the new Honorary Canadian Consul in Cebu in the person of Ms. Katherine Goshulak Rivera. We have a new Canadian Honorary Consul in Cebu because our dear friend, former Canadian Honorary Consul Robert Lee and his equally supportive and energetic wife Anna was retiring after 15 years in the service of the Canadian people.

Amb. Reader told his distinguished guests during the turnover ceremony, “Robert and his wife Anna have distinguished themselves through the outstanding level of support and service they provided to Canadians, and to the Embassy over the past 15 years. On behalf of the government of Canada, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for a job well done and wish Robert and Anna all the best as they move on to new challenges.”

To Robert and Anna, I was able to invite into the TV Show nearly all the Canadian ambassadors during his watch. Most notable were former Amb. Peter Sutherland and former Amb. Robert Desjardins. Indeed, Katherine Rivera have big shoes to fill as Amb. Reader told us. I salute Mr. Robert and Mrs. Anna Lee for their exemplary work for Canada. They are a one or two of a kind.

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