Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Friday, December 18, 2015

DOTC: Unified Ticketing System Good To Go

Wazzup Pilipimas!

The Department of Transportation and Communications’ (DOTC) first Public-Private Partnership Project, the Contactless Automated Fare Collection System (AFCS), has reached Full Systems Acceptance (FSA), marking the end of the trial period.

“We have reached another milestone through the rollout of a modern, unified ticketing system. We have been informed that we are the fastest in the world to achieve FSA, which means the system passed the standards and requirements we have set. This is certainly the fruit of the hard work of DOTC, LRTA and MRT-3 personnel, in coordination with AF Payments, Inc. (AFPI).” said DOTC Secretary Jun Abaya.

“Furthermore, we are the only ones with an AFC System wherein the government is paid instead of us paying a subsidy. We are proud of this achievement.” added Abaya.

The tap-and-go ticketing scheme was made available as early as July for LRT-2, August for LRT-1 and October for MRT-3. The limited public trial aimed to address glitches in the system including the contactless beep card, station computers, gates and vending machines.

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Home Credit Philippines, a consumer finance company, announces the results of its Study on Filipino consumer’s Christmas gift-giving behavior and preferences. The survey was held during the last week of November with 336 respondents (168 males and 168 females). More respondents preferred to give and get Gadgets this Christmas.

Twenty-four percent of the total respondents plan to buy gadgets as Christmas gifts for their family. Clothes & Accessories came in at second with a 23% share, followed by Food & Drinks (13%).

If you are expecting a gift from a male family member, it is more likely that you’ll receive a gadget: study showed that 30% of male respondents put the item as their top planned gift; but there’s also a chance that you’ll get Clothes & Accessories (20%) or Food & Drinks (13%). On the other hand, you may expect Clothes & Accessories from female family members: 26% of the female respondents said that they are looking to give out this item; Gadgets only accounted for 18% and Food & Drinks had 15%.

Likewise, more respondents (24%) are looking to get Gadgets for themselves this Christmas. Eight percent of them are wishing for Clothes & Accessories and 6% had a desire for a Car. Interestingly, the survey results showed that consumers are almost twice more likely to get Gadgets for themselves now compared to ten years ago.

Wazzup Pilipinas!

That well-known writing rule has taken on a different meaning for these established and budding Filipino authors and artists, as they proactively take on the fast-growing HIV epidemic with their words and images.

This year, the Philippines reported the highest number of HIV cases on a daily basis: 22 people testing positive–a huge jump from the 17 people in 2014. Since 1984 when the first HIV case was documented in the Philippines, the country has leapfrogged to 29,079 cases as of October 2015.

As a collaborative platform raising HIV and AIDS awareness via pop culture, pioneering HIV organization The Red Whistle has spearheaded various creative and productive collaborations to stop the rise of HIV here in the Philippines.

With its soon-to-be-launched folio, Red Letter Days, the organization brings together respected and up-and-coming voices in the art and literary scene to again bring discussions of HIV and AIDS, sex, and sexuality closer to young Filipinos.

“Through this folio, we were able to gather opinions and interpretations by respected voices from the art and literary community on HIV and AIDS, gender identity, sexual expression, and sexual health,” says Ronald Ramos, Red Letter Days folio editor, former president of the University of the Philippines’ Ugnayan ng Manunulat (UP Ugat), and fellow of the 1st Palihang Rogelio Sikat. “By bringing their thoughts together, we aspire to make discussions on HIV, sexual health and empowerment, as well as gender and equality, less taboo and more mainstream.”