According to inquirer.net: “In a referral letter to the Quezon City prosecutors office, the National Bureau of Investigation [NBI] filed the libel complaint against the blogger upon the request of then Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral, the new health secretary.” The blogger, who called herself “Ella Rose”, was subpoenaed by the NBI for a polygraph test and to make an official statement, but she never showed. Further investigation also uncovered multiple aliases used by the blogger: “Jade Ceres Dolor,” “Jade Ceres Violet Dolor,” and “Ella Rose delos Santos.”

Personally, I now find the accusations of “Ella Rose” less credible. If the NBI is to be believed, she never took steps to back up her statements, including requesting “an investigation from the Office of the Ombudsman or any law enforcement agency.” Whether or not “Ella Rose” fights the charges off or not, remember bloggers, be prepared to back up what you say, and to apologize if you’re wrong!

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1. (Updated) DSWD Letting Relief Goods Rot in Warehouse, Accuses Blogger “Ella Rose” wrote yesterday accusing the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) of incompetence, posting photos of “relief goods...
2. How Does the Libel Law Apply to Bloggers? According to a very informative interview posted by Juned, potentially severely. Juned interviewed Alex Villafania, who “previously worked for Inquirer.net...
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Yesterday Dustin Andaya left a comment on my original article, where I characterized Island Rose’s promise to donate P100 to Ondoy victims as “maybe bad”, wondering why the company had to the “base the donation on the amount of business they enjoy”. The comment of Andaya is below, full of clarifications:

Hello Rico,

My name is Dustin Andaya and I own Island Rose. I read your blog entry and I could not help but write back. I would be pretending if I said did not feel bad about your article.

When the storm happened, I called up my brother (who is also my partner) and asked him if I could do something to help the victims. We are not a large corporation but I thought that there must be something we can do since we were lucky enough to get through the storm.

As you can imagine, sales where tough during the storm but I thought that if I give a fixed part of our net income, I can help without going out of business. So we did it, for every dozen that was ordered, i set aside 100 bucks for the cause. We have a really good membership base so I announced it to my members through the newsletter you posted in your entry.

We were able to raise over P50,000 for the red cross and I look forward to seeing it used for a good cause. I will tell you straight up that giving away almost 10% of your gross income for some of the worst performing days of the year is suicidal for any business but we did it anyway. I heard that a local supermarket was commended for donating P10 for every P500 peso sale. In proportion, we gave almost 5 times that ratio. It was a bad week for the country and a bad week for us in terms of sales – the only thing we felt good about was knowing we could afford to make a donation at a time when people needed it.

Because it came straight from our income, It did not cost our customers a cent more to donate but we named the donation after our valued customers who ordered from us even in our toughest days. If you care to look, here is my blog entry about the fund drive:

http://islandrose.net/blog/2009/10/27/typhoon-ondoy-fund-drive/

Wouldn’t it have been great if everyone could give part of their income to the victims? We could have solved a lot of problems quickly.

We at Island Rose are very happy that we were blessed with the ability to help.

Sincerely,

Dustin

Here’s what I emailed Dustin:

Hi Dustin,

I would like to say sorry for the article written last October. In retrospect, calling Island Rose’s effort “Maybe Bad”—implying that you and your company might have used Typhoon Ondoy to profit—was a very insensitive thing to do, especially since I did not approach you or a company rep for clarification. I can only hope that publishing your reply and my apology will make up for this, by showing that your intentions were truly genuine.

Regards,
Rico M.

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Below are the details of the stimulus package, as well as information on how to apply for it, straight from the press release:

The Business Stimulus Package aims to help local MSMEs:

• Be available 24/7 to any potential customer by establishing an online presence on the Internet
• Grow the business cost-effectively through a user-friendly website and an online marketing campaign
• Connect with 25 million Internet users in the Philippines and over one billion globally

Any Philippine company that has a product to sell and a valid business permit can apply for the package. Participants will enjoy:

• A company website developed by STI College to promote their products and services. The first 200 MSMEs who register for the package and do not yet have a website will get it for free; subsequent participants need only pay a one-time fee of PHP3,000 to STI College for the website development work.
• PHP2,000 worth of free credits from Google to start an online marketing campaign with Google AdWords, Google’s online advertising platform.
• A free tutorial from STI College on starting a website, marketing products and services online, and using Google’s technologies to promote their business.

You can contact Therese Lim (thereselim [sa] google.com) or Aileen Apolo (aileenapolo [sa] gmail.com) of Google for more information, including how to apply.

The package is generous; it really has the potential to help SMEs become more visible online and attract more customers. At the same time however, it’s clear that the aim is to showcase the benefits of paying for Google’s online promotion services (which, as any online marketing expert will tell you, is extremely effective in increasing profits if maximized). In any case, the stimulus package isn’t relevant for all businesses. Does that neighborhood vulcanizing shop really need to build its own website online?

Image from Google Logos Collection

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So is this definitive proof? Would’ve been better if the video showed the game being played, and not just the loading screen.

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That’s why I volunteered here. Gang Badoy and Rock Ed Philippines is organizing shifts of volunteers to pack relief goods and move them from the warehouse, which has become infamous over the past few days. Anyone going there this Tuesday evening? See you!

Isn’t it amazing how the internet makes it easy for anyone to rally around a good cause? I found out about the volunteer effort through Gang’s posting on Multiply, then volunteered by calling up her personal assistant, Leslie Umali, at her cell phone number: +639177346742. Yay Team Internet!

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2. Blogger Faces Libel Over Relief Goods Post The blogger who accused the DSWD of letting relief goods rot in a warehouse has been charged with libel. According...
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LG Service Camp “LG With You”

LG Electronics Philippines extends its deepest sympathies to all those affected by the recent typhoons. We salute the courage of our Filipino countrymen in these trying times.

As our way of helping our communities rebuild their lives, we are launching “LG With You!”

From October 19 to 31, 2009, 9am-6pm, we are offering FREE unit cleaning and repair* to all LG customers in the Greater Manila Area. You may visit us at the following venues:

LG Electronics Office – Gate 2, Maybunga, Pasig City
Marikina City Hall Parking, Marikina City
Cainta Liwasan Plaza, Cainta, Rizal

You may also get in touch with us via our Customer Hotline to schedule our technicians for home service.

Customer Service Hotline:

Tel. number: (02) 905-5544
Fax number: (02) 902-5542

Smart: 0920-9002525
Globe: 0917-8242525
Sun: 0922-8022525

* Free labor only. Customer may avail of up to 50% discount on replacement parts, if needed. Per DTI-NCR permit 5602 series of 2009

While repairs aren’t totally free, that 50% discount on parts should be of great help.

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Last Tuesday Globe revealed the scope of its plans to help out victims of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. Marketed as Bangon Pinoy, Globe’s efforts to publicize the initiative also included revelations on many aspects of its recovery operations.

Aside from notable announcements that involved providing rebates to affected subscribers (landline, wireless, and broadband), the telco also made sure to emphasize the scale of Bangon Pinoy: how does spending close to P150 million to repair and upgrade equipment sound to you?. Some more specifics, courtesy of Noelle de Guzman:

• The monthly subscription fee of 100,000 postpaid customers were waived
• Prepaid customers received 1 week’s worth of free load, with amounts determined by Globe’s tracking of the prepaid accounts’ loading patterns.
• 14,000 broadband subscribers were given rebates; until repairs are complete, Globe has migrated affected broadband users to its WiMax service
• Around 1.6 million Globe customers were affected by the typhoons

Globe Tattoo spokesperson Pao de Peña also revealed a plan to increase contribution based on how much people tweet about Bangon Pinoy:

Using the #bangonpinoy hashtag, tweet pictures, videos, quotes, motivational words, and links to inspirational sites. For every tweet made, Globe and the Philippine Blog Awards will guarantee P1.00 to be spent for Ondoy and Pepeng victims.

Peña goes on to claim the following figures for his employer:

As of October 14, we’ve restored 97% of the wireless networks and 88% of the broadband networks damaged by Ondoy. We’ve also put 48% of the wireless networks and 90% of broadband networks damaged by Pepeng back up and online.

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But don’t take our word for it! Here’s what Victor Villanueva wrote as part of his article entitled “Abusing the people’s tragedy “.

A few days ago, I attended a Congress committee hearing on what we all thought to be was a junked proposal to tax SMS messages. Without as much attention as the previous hearings, and with the public focused largely on the relief operations, pro-tax congressmen actually revived the proposal, and even had the gall to use the calamity to justify the additional tax. Other congressmen who opposed the tax tried to junk it altogether to no avail. When more and more observers and media were coming in the meeting, the leadership suddenly decided to suspend the hearing and re-convene in executive session some other time, without all the observers and the media, and the other congressmen who weren’t members of the committee.

What do you think of the text tax? Personally, I don’t see the point. While the revenue potential is huge (you can actually see the peso signs glittering on the proponents’ eyes; how will this revenue be used?), why make it more expensive for Juan dela Cruz to text?

Nothing is easier or more affordable in the Philippines than sending texts to loved ones. Why take away what’s most likely the only thing working for most of our impoverished countrymen? The government already imposes a 12 percent value added tax on mobile services anyway, right?

Image source

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Said live stream can be found at jonasdiego.com/concert, and will become active once the concert starts. Bagong Sigla is marketed as for the benefit of the victims of Typhoon Ondoy. If you have the time to drop by, Escudero’s online marketing dude Jonas Diego says that entrance is free, “but we encourage people to bring relief goods. Or kung walang-wala ka talaga kahit piso OK na [Or, if you have nothing to give, donating one peso is already fine].”

I unfortunately won’t be going to the concert later, as I’ll be attending the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards. Let’s see if I can watch Bagong Sigla over the internet, on my laptop, when the concert starts at 7PM tonight.

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What inspired you to start Philippine Aid?

I’m almost ashamed to admit that, in the past, when disaster struck other parts of the country (and the globe), I’ve always felt indifferent. And really, if you read my blog, I’m not *exactly* a good guy in the conventional sense. I guess you really don’t realize how severe these things are until they hit you close to home.

When you see people’s houses half-submerged–houses of people you know–it just hits you “this is really happening!” and instinctively, you jump up and do what you can to help. Being a professional Internet Marketer, with considerable clout in the local internet community, I figured creating a website to collect financial aid is the best I can do.

Who helped out?

EVERYONE helped me, every single contact I have in the local internet community was instrumental in getting the word out; pounding twitter, blogging about it, posting on Facebook. The concerted community effort was so tremendous that the site reached its tipping point in around 4 hours.

How did you find out about ChipIn, the online service you used to accept donations through PayPal and credit card?

I found out about chipin from one of my Internet Marketing Idols: David Armano. David mobilized his social media contacts to raise money for Daniela, a woman who divorced her husband after years of abuse and was in need of a new home. The initiative’s original goal was 5,000USD; it ended with 545 contributors generating over $16,000 in donations.

How easy was it to set up Philippine Aid? All in all, how much did everything cost?

Very easy. Less than an hour, I think… I installed Wordpress [the blogging software he used to publish regular updates on the site] using DreamHost’s auto installer.

I already had existing web hosting from DreamHost so all I needed was a domain—luckily after staying with DreamHost for almost 3 years, I had a couple of free domain registrations I could avail of. So the answer to your question is: Zero pesos and Zero cents.

PayPal froze your account after a while, requiring documentation from the PNRC. Was it because you broke a certain amount? Or do they do that for donation-drives in general?

The deluge of donations coming in probably raised flags. And yes, I think they do that for all donation drives which is understandable. There are a lot of opportunists out there who wouldn’t think twice of taking advantage of a situation such as this.

I did speak with the PNRC Rizal Chapter Administrator and she said that she would be more than willing to give me a letter of subordination as soon as possible. She was really thankful for everyone’s efforts too.

Additionally, I heard that PNRC is making a donate-via-PayPal option available. Once that happens I will be redirecting traffic to their account. I’m really happy that Philippine Aid and sites like Txtpower.org’s efforts brought the importance of technology to light

Are there any plans to keep the site alive, for future Philippine Aid projects?

While I was doing this project, I found out that there is a natural high in helping out other people–something I wish I realized earlier in my life. Yes, even long after the relief operations for Ondoy are done, there are going to be people in the Philippines who are going to be in need. I plan on using the site to amplify pleas for help from the Philippines and try to get them as much help from the community as possible.

What do you think helped Philippine Aid achieve its success, aside from your contacts in the internet marketing community? Surely you couldn’t have visualized that you would raise hundreds of thousands!

Here’s a cryptic viral marketing lesson as an answer: There is no better ‘virus’ than one that infects for a cause… a GOOD cause.

That’s from who?
Me.

Haha! Thanks for your time Mr. Villar, looking forward to your future contributions online!
And I look forward to doing more interviews for one of the best, if not THE best Tech blogs in the country. [Disclaimer: Mike and Rico used to be officemates]

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