Blaming the game, not the player; the broken democratic election system in the Philippines

Preface

During the 2022 Philippine presidential election, probably the biggest comeback on top of the political pedestal was Marcos Jr. winning the presidential race, son of a deposed former dictator-president Marcos Sr., against a self-portrayed progressive candidate, former Vice-President Robredo, and a few other traditional political aspirants. The outcome of this election was not really surprising given the trend of previous presidential elections, but the real difference this time was the very vocal dismay of people who supported Robredo over to others who chose the other candidates. Many of them claimed that others made a bad choice, sometimes even comparing it to committing a carnal sin, and concluded that didn't give a care to improving the state of the country.

It is unfortunate that the very system of giving citizens the choice to elect all their leaders became a reason why the Philippines has languished to being the bottom feeder in the region in terms of overall progress. The country is hugely overtaken by their ASEAN neighbors in economic growth who were initially criticized during their formative years for not being "democratic" enough to their citizens. Long ago our country boasted being the first South-East Asian nation to restore and operate a democratic system with the citizens retaining the power to directly vote their leaders. But looking at those other countries under a hybrid parliament or even communist-led party looks to be more prosperous, with their own domestic problems seem to be not a major impediment for overall progress.

With the 2025 mid-term elections fast approaching and campaign sorties already in full-swing, candidates once again loiter on mainstream media and their faces plastered on the streets. The tone and mood looks to give yet again another upsetting outcome of traditional politicians continuing to win their retained or previously held positions. 

This write-up will not judge or pick which government system turned out to be better, but just to ponder why the current Philippine democratic election system is broken. Many would probably criticize this as a delusional work of fiction what-ifs and possibly speculate it was just made with AI. At the time of this writing even the AI might probably gain existential realization if it did consume this information. I just hope the Filipino people would also be the same.

Buying a Steam Deck OLED directly from US using BuyandShip

 

Just want to share as a guide or forewarning about ordering a Steam Deck OLED directly from the US. The post is a copy-paste from my own reddit post (in Filipino).

Preface: the plan of buying the OLED happened around January 2024

Steps and preparations I did before purchasing through the Steam Store US:

1. fully verified GCash account and activated the GCash AMEX virtual card; will be using this at the US Steam Store

2. About sa Steam Account, need mo talaga ng looks legit na steam US account. Gumamit ako VPN and signed-up sa browser ng account, hoping that the VPN US IP address is not flagged as VPN traffic. Then after the email verification and added some info na pwede ilagay, disconnected sa VPN and logged in with steam client to continue to complete some details and profile. Use the GCash AMEX to purchase at least $5 worth na game, then activate the steam guard (ginamit ko lang PH mobile number ko). Tapos wait roughly 10-15 days to check and observe if babawiin ung transaction and lapse the period na need activated ung steam guard. Yung billing address na gamitin mo is basically the US address info shown ni GCash for the AMEX card.

3. If wala pa buyandship account, sign-up for one and complete the instructions for you to get your own member ID and address you will use for shipping information. Yung portland address ang gamitin para tax-free yung purchase na gagawin mo.

4. Given wala naging problema yung 1st purchase mo and still appearing in US$ yung steam store pag login ka duon with client app na hindi naka-VPN, the next big step is to do the purchase nung mismong Deck. Make sure yung information ng address ni buyandship ang mailagay mo as shipping address and should exactly be the same. Wag mo piliin ung "recommended" address and stick with the one you encoded.

5. Pray na lumusot at maging successful yung purchase. Pag umabot na sa stage na for shipment na siya at tracking number, hindi pa siya ang endgame mo. It seems may instances na bawiin nila if mapansin nila anomalous ung transaction origin or duda sa shipping address information.

6. Pag may tracking number na, you would need that to submit kay buyandship to lodge your incoming parcel.

Given all is still well at shipped-out na siya (mine was via FedEx from CA to OR), had to wait na dumating siya mismo kay buynship, with matching bantay sa fedex tracking at whether mag-update si buynship na received parcel na talaga on their end.

Some add'l info to consider:

• conversion rate ni GCash ay kung ano man current market rate... +3 pesos. So yung bili ko eh rate was 55.4, sa conversion ni GCash eh lumalabas 58.4/$. For better math appreciation, $550 would be equivalent to +1650 pesos offset dahil sa exchange rate, $650 would be +1950 pesos.

• in a way risky ang pag-ship nung commodity and warranty might be the trouble. As of writing this post, eh inaantay ko pa nga dumating sa HK warehouse ni buyandship yung parcel ko. Even with their add-on na mala insurance (+1050) you still can't say how well things will go.

• Baka by now, si buyandship eh nag-aalok na ng pasabuy ng steam deck OLED via Komodo Japan at a reasonable markup inclusive of shipping to Manila.

All this in hopes na nakatipid ng 4k man lang (for either 512gb or 1TB OLED model) after landed cost vs. sa mga benta na price ni DB or GamExtreme

So ayun, kung hindi makati ang palad at willing to wait mala-jollibee champ or mcdo chicken, antayin nyo na lang magbaha ng stock sa HK or Japan at baka mas mura pa.

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TLDR

Cost breakdown and landed cost:

• Steam Deck 1TB OLED model - $649 = PHP 38,030.50 (approx 58.4/$ conversion GCash AMEX)

• BuyandShip freight to Manila - PHP 2180 less 400 thanks to BDO promotion

• BuyandShip+ insurance - PHP 1083

• TOTAL LANDED COST: PHP 40,893.50

Timeline:

• Purchased Steam Deck @ Store - Dec 23

• Departed from Valve Warehouse - Dec 29

• Arrived at BuyandShip Oregon - Jan 2

• Arrived at BuyandShip HK - Jan 8

• ETA Manila - swerte na kung Jan 15

• TOTAL DURATION: almost a month

A "semi-legit" speed test of PLDT Fibr 2899

I've recently applied for the PLDT Fibr plan 2899 around April 2016. After almost 4 weeks of follow-ups and service request with the "accommodating" PLDT hotline and dispatcher number, I finally got my subscription installed at our house in Mandaluyong (Barangay Namayan to be exact).

A lot of my friends started asking if it was any good... and I typically start my response of it being expensive. As for the aspect of is the connection any good compared to sticking with existing broadband DSL subscription, that is a bit tricky. Fortunately, somebody gave me an idea to do a "speedtest" of the fiber-based connection going to nodes/servers located outside the Philippines.

Background of the PH internet

Based from the marketing material and advertisements of PLDT, they're saying that you can get speeds up to 50 Mbps (100 Mbps for the first 6 months, but that's just a teaser and will only be "fun while it lasted"). But those speeds can only be achieved if you measure your speed going to servers located on the same PLDT network. What's really important is how fast your internet connection going to outside of the Philippines or even to the other local network competitor (e.g. Globe).

All the content that we usually access are not hosted within the Philippine territory and are typically in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and even the US. The latency, which is the "ms" thing you get when you do a ping test, going to servers located elsewhere is the one that matters the most. The lower the latency value the better; anything < 100 ms is sort of "acceptable" for most cases, higher than 200 ms and you're pretty much screwed especially in online gaming.

My Set-up

• PLDT Fibr plan 2899, with provided modem configured as a bridged-WAN
• Asus AC87u AC2400 Wireless Router with stock firmware
• Intel Core2-based Desktop
• Windows 10 Pro
• 4GB RAM
• RT2870 150 USB Wireless N LAN network card (Belkin) connected as 11n

The "Tests"

Without further delay (unlike what PLDT usually does), see below the screenshot of some "speedtests" I conducted.

Japan

Singapore

West Coast - US

East Coast - US

Conclusion

If comparing it with other internet subscriptions and DSL connections, I believe they're not too different if the latency is the one you'd consider. Bandwidth-wise, definitely it will be faster simply because it now uses a fiber optic line versus a copper line for DSL.

If you want my opinion if you should switch... I leave you with this message...

"With great (bandwidth) power comes great (adult) responsibility"

As long as you think you can afford the monthly subscription fee and if it is available within your area, why not. But as early as now, I'm bracing myself and thinking of ways to re-align the utility costs we have for the household because it is simply expensive for "just" internet (PHP 2,899.00 per month isn't really a joke).

O&B is now an Authorized Google Apps Reseller Partner

Google has formally recognized and authorized Orange and Bronze Software Labs to be its Google Apps Reseller Partner here in the Philippines this May 2010.

This has been in progress since the Q4 of 2009, when Google has been starting to penetrate the market of hosted mail services, particularly here in the Asia-Pacific region. It targets companies who are looking into alternatives on upgrading their current Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes (with Exchange 2010 just officially released on Nov. 2009) and following a growing trend where companies are outsourcing some IT-related services that they use.

In a nutshell, Google Apps Premier Edition is Google's business solution for communication and collaboration for the corporate setting. Quoting a portion from the Google Apps Official website, "Google's web-based messaging and collaboration apps require no hardware or software and need minimal administration, creating tremendous time and cost savings for businesses.", which is basically it's main selling point... reduced cost but still a powerful tool for your business. To know more about Google Apps Premier Edition, visit the product's homepage.

For those interested, most especially companies here in the Philippines, do not hesitate to forward your questions or inquiries to this email address. If you wish to know more information about Orange and Bronze and other services that are offered, visit their website.