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BUTUAN CITY , Philippines Education Secretary Jesli Lapus disclosed that the 400,000 public school teachers who would serve in polling centers all over the country during the May 2010 elections need training for the automated polls.

Lapus, keynote speaker of the recently concluded 5th Mindanao Educators Congress held here, said the teachers are still not ready for automated elections and that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should immediately train the teachers.

He said that some teachers have asked the Comelec to exclude them from serving in future elections because of threats to poll officers and accusations of poll fraud during and after election day.

Lapus said the teachers could not avoid the moral responsibility and the duty to supervise polling centers nationwide.

He said the teachers need training on how to handle the automated machines and also to manage the voters and any crisis that may arise, especially the expected protests of poll watchers of the different political parties and candidates on election day.

When asked about the time frame of the Department of Education for the training of teachers, Lapus said: It will depend on the Comelec.

Lapus said the Comelec would reduce the number of teachers that would serve in the automated polls.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said the poll body would cut by half the number of teachers that would serve as members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) in the 2010 local and national elections, from 750,000 teachers that used to serve in the elections to only about 400,000. More…

Source: PhilStar
Author: Ben Serrano

MANILA, Philippines – The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) confirmed yesterday the death of 10 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in a helicopter crash at a key NATO airbase in southern Afghanistan on Sunday.

OWWA chief Carmelita Dimzon said they have received verified information that 10 Filipinos were among the 16 who died in the air tragedy.
Dimzon declined to release the names of the dead.

They were legally deployed three or five years ago but they were unable to return since we imposed a ban in Afghanistan, Dimzon said.

The Philippine government imposed a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Afghanistan due to prevailing hostilities there.

Dimzon gave assurances that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), OWWA and other agencies concerned will work for the immediate repatriation of the bodies of the 10 OFWs once these have been recovered.

They may already be considered undocumented because of the deployment ban, but we will be giving them all the necessary assistance for Filipino workers, Dimzon said.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque earlier said they were still verifying the reported deaths of OFWs in a helicopter crash.

Meantime, the nationalities of the six other helicopter crash victims were not immediately known, according to a report of the ABS-CBN news bureau in Dubai. More…

Source: PhilStar
Author: Mayen Jaymalin

MANILA, Philippines – The country incurred a budget deficit of P153.4 billion during the first six months of this year, a sharp 752.2 percent increase from the P18 billion deficit recorded in the same period last year on the back of declining tax collections and accelerated spending amidst the slowing economy.

Despite the increase in the deficit for the six-month period, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the budget gap was still P1.7-billion below the P155.1-billion deficit target for the period.

The government posted the deficit as revenue agencies failed to meet their collection targets which officials attributed to the impact of the worldwide economic crisis.

Total revenues from January to June amounted to P545.7 billion or P35.7 billion lower than the P581.4 billion target while expenditures amounted to P699.1 billion, also P37.4 billion lower than the target for the period.

Of the total revenues, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collected P375.6 billion during the period, P12.8 billion lower than the programmed amount due mainly to a slower than projected economic growth. More…

Source: PhilStar
Author: Iris C. Gonzales

When Wednesday turns China pitch black.

Yet another solar eclipse come July 22. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth. Astronomy enthusiasts the world over will be out in full force to witness the longest solar eclipse of this century.

In Singapore and part of the Philippines, this would only be a partial solar eclipse that will be visible between 8:41 am and 9:44 am, peaking at 9:11 am.

Elsewhere, parts of India and Bangladesh, as well as Hangzhou and Shanghai in China, are some of the best places to view the total eclipse. (Source: Reader’s Digest)

Based from Inquirer.net, avoid using x-ray films, sunglasses and basins filled with water when viewing the partial solar eclipse on July 22.

According to astronomy and weather experts, looking at the partial eclipse through these methods would only ruin your eyes. The experts advised the public on Thursday to use the proper equipment in watching the moon partially obscure the sun.

Professor Frederick Gabriana, of the Astronomy Philippines and an instructor of the Rizal Technological University Department of Astronomy, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that water had a five percent rating of reflectivity.

“That is, it reflects five percent of sunlight while allowing 95 percent to pass through. While this seems small, it is still 5,000 times bigger than the 0.00001 considered to be safe for solar observation,” he said.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said “enthusiasm and excitement” may lead observers to view the eclipse without the proper gear, that could lead to damage to the retina.

Even the use of smoked glass and photographic films and negatives would be dangerous, the agency said on its website.

Pagasa said the safest method would be “indirect viewing” through a “pinhole camera” or projecting the image of the sun onto a white piece of paper or a card using a pair of binoculars (with one of the lenses covered), a telescope, or another piece of cardboard with a small hole of about one millimeter in diameter. More…

Source: Inquirer.net
Author: Alcuin Papa
Photo Credits: n0ll

In the latest global survey conducted by Reader’s Digest, 11 of 15 countries say they’d turn off the TV before they’d silence their mobile phone or log off the internet.

Women, especially, will forgo their favourite shows, voting to do so by a greater percentage than men in all but four countries.

Younger respondents are more likely to take a pass on TV, but older folks don’t necessarily shun the online experience.

In Singapore, not a single person over 45 voted to stop surfing.

Amazingly, Brazil is the only nation to pick the internet (and by such a huge margin). Brazil has some of the lowest rate or internet use worldwide, with just 35 users per 100 people. (The US and UK both have 72) Brazil’s cost to hook up is also high, about $26 a month, compared with $7.40 in Germany.

Funny, Americans voted to give up TV, yet sit in front of the flat screen for an average of 4 hours, 37 minutes a day. But if the decision had been made by respondents over 45, the mobile phone would have gotten the boot instead.

Meanwhile, Canadians pay some of the highest rates for their mobile phone plans, which maybe why they have the lowets number of mobile phone users among the Western countries polled.

Source: Reader’s Digest Magazine
Photo Credits: NaOH

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