Pinoy Passenger

Joc Joc Bolante landed back on Philippine ground Tuesday night at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. It was around 11pm when the news was reported from GMA 7 news. The transfer from the United States back into the Philippines was so smooth and tactical that the press that came along with him from US to the country didn’t know they are actually in the same plane. Joc Joc Bolante was assumed to be in silence, not talking even to co-passengers while aboard the flight.

Joc Joc Bolante - Scam of All Scams

Jocelyn “JocJoc” Bolante was the former Agriculture undersecretary who got accused of maneuvering the P728-million fertilizer scam to fund Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s presidency, for her second term. According to my dad, the Joc Joc Bolante case is the scam of all scam. I cannot wait for the drama to unfold now before the media.

Senate has already issued an arrest warrant for Bolante. His lawyer accepted it in his behalf. The former Agriculture undersecretary is now in St. Luke’s Medical Center. I wonder why?

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PDA Little Dreamer Winner Cristina de Leon - and she has been a winner, most consistent in bringing outstanding, flawless performance as mentioned by her mentors and jurors. The sad part is either, the ABS CBN network is more inclined to promote the more “marketable” contestant, or that Filipinos may not be voting for talent, instead going for the kawawa and “underdog” type. I was there in their first ever live gala night, September 21 PDA Little Dreamer Gala Night.

Pinoys love underdogs, especially those who are having a poor plight in life. Yes, the poor deserves so much more in this life… but I hope that in cases like this, fairness should prevail regardless of social status. Yes, Cristina de Leon’s family is also financially struggling, and yes this contest is one of their best hopes in experience a better life. But this sad reality isn’t their main weapon in the PDA Little Dreamer battlefield - it’s mere outstanding talent.

She’s been exerting her best efforts not to make flats, and sharps, and to perfectly express the emotions of the songs well. Oh yes, the judges take notice of these remarkable qualities of her, saying she’s always giving an exemplary performance ABOVE the rest.. yet the results seem not to be on her side.

None in the viewing public are seeing the tally of text votes, right? None of us has ever seen who’s got the most text votes. So you can imagine how fertile these sort of popularity contests for manipulation.

That night, I think everybody was shocked even the parents of other contestants with the announcement of the winners. No offense to Philip and Amy because I do believe both kids are talented. But how could a contest who sings with flats, or someone not in the right tempo, be announced as the most outstanding PDA Little Dreamer?

The in-house PDA Little Dreamer mentors would now have a hard time deciding who among the kids need improvement - because the obvious one was named most outstanding. Too bad.

This post isn’t just meant to campaign for Cristina de Leon of Cavite. This is to urge the viewing public to VOTE FOR TALENT in the PDA Little Dreamer competition. And also, just a memo to ABS CBN that contest manipulation isn’t at all behind a dark veil. It can be so obvious, too!

PDA Blog Awards

Blog and Vote for Cristina de Leon: PDA Little Dreamer Winner!

Oh yes, I’m giving away prizes for the best blog posts about Cristina de Leon! Free tickets to Star City’s Snow World!

Here are the Mechanics:

1. In 150 words minimum, blog about Cristina de Leon of the PDA Little Dreamer 2008. Tell us why you think she should win.

2. Link to http://www.pinoypassenger.com/ using the Text: PDA Little Dreamer Winner. Link again to http://www.pinoypassenger.com/ in the last part of your blog post using the text: Vote for Talent! Vote for Cristina!

3. Send me the your blog address (your blog post about Cristina) by email at pdablogawards@gmail.com

4. I will then decide the best (top 3) blog posts by October 6 (Monday)

5. Wait for my email reply to check if you were chosen (will also post the winners here in this blog). I will send your tickets for Snow World at Star City via courier by October 7 Tuesday.

• 2nd and 3rd Price - free entrance at Star City & Snow World worth Php 160.00
• 1st Price - free entrance at Star City & Snow World plus ride all you can worth Php 325.00

And please do vote for her via text every Gala night! Go go go Cristina!

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Philippine Economy - a lot of talk in the news today, probably around the globe, is the predicted slip of the US economy into recession. The cause being pointed out by many for the 2008 US recession is the unwise increase in the supply of money credit, which consequently leads to inflation. Economists, businessmen, and of course the Philippine politicians are out with their press releases on the effects of the US recession to the Philippine economy.

Malacanang is blatant in saying that RP can “weather the storm” because of our strong economic fundamentals. I wonder what “strong” actually means to them…

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Do you know why I sometimes think Multiply.com is better than pay-per-click ads?

Pay Per Click Marketing Versus Multiply.com

I’ve been with the Internet marketing industry as a Filipino SEO for almost 3 years. And yes, I’ve worked with Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and MSN Ad Center. Adwords can make profitable returns to your business, but you are always challenged with cut-throat keyword-bidding competition.

The Freedom to Choose and Target your Market

Now with Multiply.com, where most Filipinos – from students, to professionals, and even moms seeking extra income can be found, comes out to be an interesting option! Multiply lets you upload your product photos, together with specs and all. You gain a market by continuously adding contacts and business prospects to deal with. They in turn, translate into buyers/customers (not to mention your search engine listing placements). Yes, multiply is searchable (indexable – if there’s such a term! Haha!)… unlike Friendster.

With multiply, you have the freedom to choose your target market. You can get as many contacts as you wish! Turn around is faster as you can easily note down your email add and mobile number. The trick is, just like in any paid campaign, your landing page has to be optimized for conversion (i.e. call-to-action links; good fluid content). Ad placement in Multiply’s group networks are endless. Best of all, the Multiply platform is FREE!

Audience Demographics at its Best

Of course, you cannot necessarily beat the scope and reach of an Adwords campaign, for example if you wish to target a broader audience base. But think about it, the most profitable keywords in your paid campaign are those that are more specific and targeted (less expensive most of the time). Why not switch to something that will let you have the capability to really shoot for your particular market segment? Multiply lets you take a peek on people’s demographics – so that’s a plus point, too.

Adding a Personal Touch

But what I love most about Multiply.com is that you can go as personal with your customer, as you wish. Personally replying to each email and SMS brings a “closer” bond between seller and buyer. That’s customer rapport to beat. Being online doesn’t mean being automated and impersonal all the time. Multiply.com has so much room for personal customer service.

I’m not dumping my pay-per-click belief of sales profits online. The best option actually, is to combine the two platforms in your search marketing campaign (IMO only). I think the point I’m driving at is rethinking of resource allocation whenever you sell something on the Web.

 Disclaimer: This isn’t a paid post for Multiply.com (hehe!)

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I will always be in awe of the generation of today. Young entrepreneurs becoming NETpreneurs, young professionals adopting new skills to become net-savvy, even kids learning to practise wise buying through thrift online shopping.

Now that more and more of the youth are getting into the online sphere, who wouldn’t want to attend a free tech gathering like the WordCamp Philippines 2008? I read about this from Joni’s blog, a good friend of mine. And I found out this event is initiated by our dear Mindanao bloggers. Wow.

I must admit I got freakin’ excited to register because a segment of the camp will be talking about Wordpress and SEO. I’ve been asked to blog about the advantage of Wordpress in terms of SEO, and this WordCamp will definitely equip me

WordCamp Philippines 2008 is brought to you by the following sponsors (link away, baby!)

• i.PH: the Domain for Individuals
• Free Online Flash Games
• Wazzup Manila Philippines
• Real Estate CRM
• Real Estate Website Designers
• Orange County Real Estate
• Auto Insurance Quotes
• Lane Systems Inc.
• RedMedia
• Orange County Business Lawyer

PS: Just now I received news from News Central at Channel 23 that there is a competition threat against Google. Rebel Google Engineers will be launching a new search engine named “Cuil“. According to the news, it has a sleek interface (well, you can see that as you visit www.cuil.com), and that the search engine can detect the concepts behind every page, and the concepts behind every search. No definite details are reported about this, though. I wonder, how will the SEO’s face this challenge. I’ve tried the engine myself, and it swells!

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PDA Little Dreamer from Cavite (and my cousin!!!), Maria Cristina Angela de Leon won the Outstanding Little Dreamer award last night in their third Gala Night. Singing Leah Navarro’s piece: Isang Mundo, Isang Awit, Cris or TinTin as we fondly call her, made a remarkable rendition of the song. Until now, i still could not get where she’s getting that powerful high-pitched voice of hers.

Given that tiny frame, she’s hitting the high octaves correctly. Nice voice quality (as told by the judges - and not just because she’s my cousin hehe!). What I like about her voice is that it’s really the sound of a child - not pretentious or trying-hard, or anything of that sort. Kids should be singing these kinds of songs… not those of the sensual love song ones, or those super ka-cheapan chants as popularized by afternoon variety shows. Yuck!

Here: Watch how she sang the piece:

(sorry I can’t embed the video.. it’s not on Youtube kse…

I am tempted to launch a SEO Contest for the keyword: PDA Little Dreamer Winner - and all entries should be about Cristina de Leon! Hahaha! Biased talaga.

Anyways, you can cast your vote for the Little Dreamer Winner. Please vote for Cris! Why?

1. Talent, and not popularity. She’s got the talent really.

2. Determination - she used to be a shy kid, only plays with a couple of cousins her age in the family. But look at her now - how she has transformed.

3. Hope for their family’s future - Cris’ family struggles financially, with 3 more little siblings (1 an infant), and only has my uncle to provide for their needs. Winning the PDA Little Dreamer award would really be a great great help for them.

So vote now! http://www.celebritypeeps.com/cristina-pda-2-little-dreamer/

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Did you know that the Asia Pacific Region is fast becoming the largest Internet ad spender? Surprisingly, countries like Japan, China, and Singapore are all experience an online boom, as they call it. This was announced at the Singapore ad:tech conference with speakers coming from distinguished companies like Google, and Yahoo. In fact, Singapore is one of the “fertile lands” to do business in Asia.

Here is an excerpt of the news report:

Online ad spend is expected to increase in tandem with the growth of traditional media forms like television and newspapers, said media group WPP Digital’s chief executive Mark Read in his keynote address.

The conference, previously held in nine other cities, was brought to Singapore this year because “a lot of regional ad buying comes from Singapore,” said Paul Beckley, spokesman for organizer dmg world media.

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A former co-worker and fellow SEM Specialist posted this link on SEO Philippines. It was just both funny and amazing actually to see an American seeing a purely Tagalog song… a rock-OPM at that.

Since June is the month of Philippine Independence, I’d like to share how this foreign buddy loved to sing and play a Filipino song… Buloy! Haha! In fairness, nasa tono siya ha.

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Riding along with the Philippine national flag bandwagon, just to recall - the longest trail of Philippine flag holders was witnessed here in my hometown Cavite, from Imus to Dasmarinas last June 1st. It is known as the First Wagayway Festival.

I was not exactly compelled to blog about it because the event simply brought me heavy traffic when I was on my way to pay my bills at SM Dasmarinas. But I was taken aback by Joey Velasco’s painting “Heal Our Land”. It was just so moving and meaningful to see Christ praying with our Philippine flag on his arms.

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It is just right that I blog about the new fare increase here at Pinoypassenger.com. Recently (or was it yesterday), the LTFRB has increased the fare by P 0.50 for public utility vehicles. That makes P 8.00 as the official minimum transportation fare.

At a news report from GMA News, it was stated that the LTFRB will not be releasing copies of the new matrix since this is just a provisional fare increase. So for all us pinoy passengers, we can’t demand that photocopied fare matrix to be posted in the jeepney walls.

It was in 2003 since the last fare increase, when diesel would cost P 26.00/liter. Now it’s P42.00. I am not really familiar with the implications of oil regulation. But I think regulating the oil industry in the country by the government isn’t an attractive idea for oil companies, since they will have to measure up to the price ceiling imposed by the government in that case. If that happens, oil suppliers will shy away from doing business here, thus less tax collection for the government.

Right now, I really feel for the eco-friendly oil that we can locally produce like the Bio fuel. It can be sourced from the Jatropha plant and Palm trees. It is eco-friendly as it reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

From the Modern Energy Corporation, it says there

“If half of the Mindanao land were planted in jatropha plants and palm trees, in several years, after they mature, the company potentially could produce over US$200 million worth of palm and jatropha oil annually with current prices for palm and jatropha oil of US$400 per ton.”

I heard there’s also a vehicle that can now be run using electricity. You just have to charge your jeep. Hehe!

Well with these innovative ways to conserve a non-renewable resource, which is oil, I think the government and other private sectors should start taking these promising innovations seriously, so we won’t have to bear with monster fare prices.

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