vonjobi: wow, congratulations! kelan ang trip? i hope i'll be around when you come. had a good time with diosa last...
Keith Bacongco: Knowing Nograles and his Big Boss...garapalan na lang talaga.
Vinia Datinguinoo Mukherjee: Congratulations, PCIJ! Mabuhay kayo!
Lead Philippines: But without credible mass media there, what is left to protect the people..?
vonjobi: it's juned sOniDo.

Latest Message 5 months ago

hopeless_race : Lets not just focus sa mga malversation of funds, sa mga overpricing..ating pagtuunan ng atensyon ang diskarte ng mga politiko na umuutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno."Small time" ang ibang pamamaraan ng pangungurakot kumpara sa pag-utang sa gobyerno ng bilyon na tunay ngang masasabing "pinaka big-time" at wala pang sabit.
hopeless_race : Mukhang tikom ang bibig ng lahat pagdating sa diskarte ng mga politiko sa pagutang ng mga bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno na tinatakbuhan. Itong pamamaraan na ito ang tunay na kumakain ng malaking porsyento ng ating national budget batay na din sa sinasabi ng world bank.
hopeless_race : Pakisilip naman po ang mga utang ni Villar sa BSP, ang mga utang nila RAMON JACINTO, RONNIE ZAMORA, JOE DE VENECIA at madami pang ibang mga pulitiko. Iilan lamang yan sa mga nababanggit sa balita na may mga malalaking utang sa gobyerno.
hopeless_race : Nagmimistulang "small time" lamang ang malversation of funds kumpara sa laki ng kinakamal ng mga umuutang sa gobyerno. At ito ay malinaw na natatakbuhan dahil hindi nga naman pwede makulong ang may-ari ng kumpanya sa pagkaka-utang lamang. Tunay na mga tuso at magagaling sa batas itong mga politiko natin. Masasabi ko na malamang lahat ng mga politiko ganito ang diskarte...wala pang kulong.
hopeless_race : PCIJ pkitingnan naman po ang mga gaya ni Villar na my malaking utang sa Gobyerno pero tinatakbuhan. Magtatayo ng kumpanya at uutang ng bilyon bilyon sa gobyerno ng walang balak bayaran. Tunay ngang walang nakukulong sa utang...ito ang prinsipyo ginagamit ng mga politiko ntin kaya nakakapagtaka kung san napupunta ang daang bilyong pera ng gobyerno.
hopeless_race : Sana itreat naman po ng media ang hacienda luisita at mendiola massacre na parang MAGUINADANAO MASSACRE. Ipublicized ang mga katotohanan at ipakita sa tao ang karumaldumal na pinaggagawa sa mga farmers dun. Untouchable po ba sila cory at danding at hindi magawang batikusin ng media about these two massacres?
hopeless_race : Kapag napaguusapan ang mendiola at hacienda luisita massacre ay parang walang nangyari at parang hindi big deal. Anu po ba ang pinagkaiba ng dalawang nabanggit na massacre sa maguindanao massacre?
hopeless_race : Its sad that we pinoys are blind to the fact of what had happened in mendiola and hacienda luisita. Ang tanong..bakit ang media ay hindi manlang matackle ang ganitong usapin? Takot ba sila kay cory at danding?
hopeless_race : Wilkins" brand, for P1.4 billion.-1999 Sugarland Multi-Food Corp. for P2.9 billion 2001- Purefoods Corp P7 billion P60 billion Coca-Cola ... See More 2002- Cosmos Bottling Corp. from RFM Corp. for P14.1 billion October 2008- GSIS' shares in Meralco worth PHP30 Billion. December 2008- country's biggest oil refiner, Petron Corporation. international company shopping spree: Australian boutique brewer J. Boag and Son for A$96 million in 2000. $97 million for Thai Amarit Brewery Ltd $35.5 mi
hopeless_race : Gud am..glad to be back.
jr_lad : rip mr. alecks pabico. you'll be greatly missed!
sevens21 : Dati input mo lng name at SSS ID makukuha mo agad STATIC INFO...
sevens21 : tawag ka sa HOTLINE nila walang ANSWER grrr we need pa namn ng static info SSS Gising!!!
sevens21 : Gawa naman po kayo ng article about SSS. Pangit ng site nila dali ma blocked ng account
guest_899 : we must check the background of each potential candidates to avoid having another big mistake like GMA
guest_899 : congratulations to PCIJ, more power and God Bless !
jazzymuver : how did Arroyo swallow that kind of things!! how come that she just spend the money our countrymen for her own sake!!
guest_3664 : i would be glad if u can include the investigation of the manner public officials announce infra projects as per COA regulation. It is frustrating to see their faces on the tarpaulin instead of the prescribed information like name of project, date of implementation,amount of contract, source/s of fund, among other things. This is very rampant here in Marikina. Thanks and more power on your noble endeavors. We need people like you to have make our country great again.
jhanz_08 : im making research on R.A 9136...with rgards to the privatization of NPC..could someone out there can let me understand more bout this matter?why was monopoly dismantled?email me..jhanycem@yahoo.com...thanks much
erika marie : P.S.:) my paper is due next week and i do hope someone could provide me these reports coming from reliable resources thank you ulit.
erika marie : P.S.
guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study regarding political killings in the philippines. could someone out there please send me human rights reports under Aquino and Ramos administration. you could send it at my email: erikamariet@yahoo.com your response would surely be very much appreciated. thank you everyone. god bless.
guest_4275 : i am currently doing a study for my paper regarding political killings in the philippines. i noted that there are no human rights reports during the Aquino and Ramos administration. could someone out there please send me reports regarding these matter? i do hope these reports came from reliable resources you could send it in my email; erikamariet@yahoo.comyour response would surely be appreciated. thanks everyone. god bless.
jayson bourne : gusto ko po maging member ng PCIJ, panu po ba? may application po ba? sana mapadalhan nyo ako ng info sa email ko... www.jboxpenshoppe@yahoo.com
jayson bourne : cory is OK, but kris & Noynoy sensationalize masyado...
guest_9891 : LABAN pa rin!
meow : boycotts worked during marcos years. how about doing it now against the businesses of the con-ass congressmen?
meow : aside from 168, what other establishments can we boycott that belong to the arroyos and their cronies?
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Reporting on the information society

Posted by: Alecks P. Pabico | November 4, 2006 at 3:09 pm
Filed under: Science and Technology, The Internet

I WAS one of only two Filipino journalists who went to Geneva in December 2003 to cover the first-ever World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). I was fortunate to be tapped by the Asia-Pacific office of Inter Press Service to be part of its reportorial staff for the first phase of the three-day global high-level gathering of key stakeholders seeking a better understanding of the digital revolution and its impact on the international community.

Of a total 11,407 delegates, there were 970 journalists in attendance representing 631 media organizations worldwide. Noting the number of accredited journalists alongside government officials who went to WSIS, the Daily Summit blog said then that if it were a gauge of how much importance countries placed on the summit and the issues discussed there, Bangladesh was tops among developing countries which had 33 journalists (along with 61 government officials) in Geneva.

The Philippines, a major exporter of computer and technological components and whose professionals are prized for their software and creative skills, was at least better than Malaysia, which did not have a single journalist despite having the single biggest delegation to the summit with 137 officials.

Organized by the United Nation’s International Telecommunication Union and hosted by the Swiss government, WSIS was envisioned amid glaring global realities — a vast majority of humanity remains untouched by the digital revolution, and that real disparities exist between countries and socio-economic groups that are benefiting from information and communication technologies (ICTs) and those that are not.

The WSIS went through preparatory committee meetings and regional conferences that produced the draft Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action, both of which were finalized and adopted by heads of state and business leaders in the actual Summit in Geneva. Civil society representatives, disappointed over the summit’s failure to push for people-centered information and communication societies, issued their own declaration.

The Action Plan addressed a broad range of issues concerning the information society, which included:

Information and communication infrastructure: financing and investment, affordability, development, and sustainability
Access to information and knowledge
The role of governments, the business sector and civil society in the promotion of ICTs for development
Capacity building: human resources development, education, and training
Security
Enabling environment
Promotion of development-oriented ICT applications for all
Cultural identity and linguistic diversity, local content and media development
Identifying and overcoming barriers to the achievement of the information society with a human perspective

The Geneva phase, however, failed to resolve contentious issues involving Internet governance and the creation of a solidarity fund for ICT development, both of which were calendared for deeper negotiations leading to Tunis in 2005. On the issue of Internet management, what was underscored in Geneva was the involvement of all stakeholders and intergovernmental organizations to address both technical and public policy issues.

On the issue of financing for underserved economies, it was agreed to set up a task force to undertake a review of existing ICT funding mechanisms and to study the feasibility of an international voluntary Digital Solidarity Fund.

Civil society groups also scored the “weakness” of the WSIS declaration’s provision on the global commons or the public domain of global knowledge. Their own declaration called for the review of the regime of limited intellectual monopolies of intellectual property rights and defends free software for its benefits to developing countries.

Owing to a much busier schedule, I missed covering the Summit’s second phase in Tunisia in November last year. In Tunis, the question of who should govern the Internet was eventually addressed by governments acknowledging the need for enhanced cooperation and adopting newly agreed principles:

All governments should play an equal role and have equal responsibility for Internet governance while ensuring its continuing stability, security and continuity.

Nations should not be involved in decisions regarding another nation’s country code top level domain (ccTLD).

There is a need for strengthened co-operation among stakeholder for public policies for generic top level domain names (gTLDs).

Along this line, the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was also created, to be convened by the U.N. Secretary-General, to foster and enable multi-stakeholder dialogue on public policy and development issues.

While it will have no involvement in the day-to-day running and technical operation of the Internet, the IGF, as the main tangible outcome of the WSIS Tunis phase, will facilitate the exchange of information and best practices, and help find solutions to issues of concern to every day users arising from the use and misuse of the Internet, identify emerging issues and bring them to the attention of relevant decision-making bodies, and where appropriate, make recommendations.

Beyond the two phases of the Summit, an overall review by the General Assembly of the implementation of WSIS outcomes, foremost of which are the Geneva Plan of Action and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, is set in 2015.

For journalists, though, this should not be the end of reportorial work on information society issues after WSIS. After Geneva, I got a fellowship to travel around Cambodia where I stayed for a month to report (here and here) on the kingdom’s emerging information society.

Making life less difficult for journalists to keep track of such issues post-WSIS though is a recently launched blog by Panos London’s resident information society expert, Murali Shanmugavelan.

At the recently concluded Internet Governance Forum in Athens, for instance, Shanmugavelan blogged about what transpired at the four-day gathering, which marked the first time that governments, businesses and civil society have come together to discuss the future of the Internet.

There has been a general atmosphere of optimism in the multi-stakeholder process of the Forum, observed Shanmugavelan, adding that what had been underlined most clearly in the IGF is that “the user is as important as technologists and policymakers in deciding the future of the Internet.”

Though the IGF is not legally binding, it represents a dramatic shift in the U.N. system, with civil society, erstwhile shunned by global policy-making bodies, given equal status as governments. This experiment, Shanmugavelan said, could have implications for decision-making on other policy issues, including trade and environment.

On promoting linguistic diversity and local content in an existing Anglo-Saxon-centric Internet, Shanmugavelan reported that a consensus has emerged among delegates with respect to the following:

the inextricable link between freedom of expression, the right to information and the creation of local content

a ‘multilingualistic approach’ as the future of the Internet, with local languages used to search, publish and distribute information

marrying local content and available technical standards to make more information available in local languages

A non-journalist, Shanmugavelan thought of dedicating a blog to provide a no-nonsense commentary on topical issues of the information society that he fears are in danger of eluding the media spotlight. He believes journalists are in a unique position to objectively report on, and spark public debate around, such developments. He therefore asks them — particularly those in developing countries — to share their views and experiences on the blog.

You can subscribe to his blog feed here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 4th, 2006 and is filed under Science and Technology, The Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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[...] Reporting on the information societyPhilippine Center for Investigative Journalism, Philippines - Nov 3, 2006… Noting the number of journalists alongside government officials who went to WSIS, the Daily Summit blog said then that if it were a gauge of how much … [...]

Reporting on the information society - Newsblaper - Blog Newspaper wrote on November 6, 2006 - 12:21 pm | Visit Link

Don’t stop reporting on the information society!…

Alecks Pabico confirms that reporting on the information society is not easy. He was just one of two Filipino journalists to attend the first phase of WSIS in Geneva, despite the fact that his country is “a major exporter of…

the i-witnesses wrote on November 7, 2006 - 10:12 pm | Visit Link