DOTr maps out transportation projects with House lawmakers prior to submission of 2021 proposed budget

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade met with House lawmakers yesterday, 10 March 2020, at the House of Representatives (HoR) to map out transportation projects under the department's 2021 proposed budget appropriations.

This initiative was the result of Secretary Tugade and Majority Leader Martin Romualdez's dialogue last 11 February 2020, with the guidance of House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

The meeting aims to hear lawmakers' concerns on transportation projects, as well as to discuss with DOTr their transport plans within their districts. In this way, as Secretary Tugade noted, the DOTr can efficiently formulate solutions and strategies to expedite implementation of projects prior to submission of budget proposal to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

“Ngayon, eto, pumunta kami ng buong DOTr dito sa Batasan para makipag-usap sa bawat kongresista. Ilatag natin at i-reconcile ang budget requirement at project. Asahan n’yo, katuwang n’yo kami sa DOTr na maisusulong na ang mga proyekto at pangangailangan ng inyong distrito. Kasi, wala naman ibang mas nakakaalam ng pangangailangan ng lugar nyo kundi kayo mismo,” Sec. Tugade said.

The DBM has asked national government agencies to coordinate with local government units in ensuring that regional plans are aligned with national priorities for next year's proposed budget.

"Sa ganitong sistema na open, transparent, at direct coordination, hindi tayo nagsusulong ng kanya-kanyang interest, kundi ang interest ng mga probinsya, at antimano, ang interest ng bayan,” Secretary Tugade added.

The Transportation chief brought along his team of officials and heads of agencies in the meeting, in order to directly address the queries or points of clarification, as well as to establish rapport with the legislators.

The DBM has issued National Budget Memorandum 133 last 04 December 2019, advising government agencies to start preparing their budget proposals for fiscal year 2021.

The Budget department adds, the call was released earlier to allow agencies to have more time in drafting their programs for next fiscal year which are anchored in the socioeconomic agenda and the Philippine Development Plan (PDP).

It can be recalled that the DOTr received a significantly higher allotment of P100.6-billion (45% higher than the previous fiscal year) in 2020 in order to accelerate the Duterte administration’s massive infrastructure program.

DOTr officials and agency heads were in full force, including Undersecretary for Finance Garry De Guzman, Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Reinier Paul Yebra, Undersecretary for Railways Timothy John Batan, Undersecretary for Aviation and Airports Skee Tamayo, Assistant Secretary for Procurement and Project Implementation Giovanni Lopez, Assistant Secretary for Maritime Lino Dabi, Assistant Secretary for Project Implementation for Mindanao Eymard Eje, Assistant Secretary for Communications and Commuter Affairs Goddes Hope Libiran, Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) General Manager Jay Santiago, Office of Transportation Security (OTS) Administrator Raul Del Rosario, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) GM Ed Monreal, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman Martin Delgra III, Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla, and Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) OIC Administrator Narciso Vingson.

Pinoy dengue case predictor mapping system wins the 2019 NASA global hackathon

Upper row Associate American Corner librarian Donna Lyn G. Labangon, Space Apps global leader Dr. Paula S. Bontempi, former DICT Usec. Monchito B. Ibrahim, Animo Labs executive director Mr. Federico C. Gonzalez, DOST-PCIEERD deputy executive director Engr. Raul C. Sabularse, PLDT Enterprise Core Business Solutions vice president and head Joseph Ian G. Gendrano, lead organizer Michael Lance M. Domagas, and Animo Labs program manager Junnell E. Guia. Lower row Dominic Vincent D. Ligot, Frances Claire Tayco, Mark Toledo, and Jansen Dumaliang Lopez of Aedes project.

A dengue case forecasting system using space data made by Pinoy developers won the 2019 National Aeronautics and Space Administration's International Space Apps Challenge. Over 29,000 participating globally in 71 countries, this Pinoy solution made it as one of the six winners in the best use of data, the solution that best makes space data accessible, or leverages it to a unique application.

Dengue fever is a viral, infectious tropical disease spread primarily by Aedes aegypti female mosquitoes. With 271,480 cases resulting in 1,107 deaths reported from January 1 to August 31, 2019 by the World Health Organization, Dominic Vincent D. Ligot, Mark Toledo, Frances Claire Tayco, and Jansen Dumaliang Lopez from CirroLytix developed a forecasting model of dengue cases using climate and digital data, and pinpointing possible hotspots from satellite data.

Sentinel-2 Copernicus and Landsat 8 satellite data used to reveal potential dengue hotspots

Correlating information from Sentinel-2 Copernicus and Landsat 8 satellites, climate data from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PAGASA) and trends from Google search engines, potential dengue hotspots will be shown in a web interface.

Using satellite spectral bands like green, red, and near-infrared (NIR), indices like Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) are calculated in identifying areas with green vegetation while Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) identifies areas with water. Combining these indices reveal potential areas of stagnant water capable of being breeding grounds for mosquitoes, extracted as coordinates through a free and open-source cross-platform desktop geographic information system QGIS.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzpI775XoY0


Check out the website here: http://aedesproject.org/

Winners visit the Philippine Earth Data Resource and Observation (PEDRO) Center at the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute in Diliman, Quezon City with Dr. Joel Joseph S. Marciano, Jr.

"AEDES aims to improve public health response against dengue fever in the Philippines by pinpointing possible hotspots using Earth observations," Dr. Argyro Kavvada of NASA Earth Science and Booz Allen Hamilton explained.

The DOST-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) deputy executive director Engr. Raul C. Sabularse said that the winning solution "benefits the community especially those countries suffering from malaria and dengue, just like the Philippines. I think it has a global impact. This is the new science to know the potential areas where dengue might occur. It is a good app."

"It is very relevant to the Philippines and other countries which usually having problems with dengue. The team was able to show that it's not really difficult to have all the data you need and integrate all of them and make them accessible to everyone for them to be able to use it. It's a working model," according to Monchito B. Ibrahim, industry development committee chairman of the Analytics Association of the Philippines and former undersecretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

Biological oceanographer Dr. Paula S. Bontempi, acting deputy director of the Earth Science Mission, NASA's Science Mission Directorate and the current leader of the Space Apps global organizing team

The leader of the Space Apps global organizing team Dr. Paula S. Bontempi, acting deputy director of the Earth Science Mission, NASA's Science Mission Directorate remembers the pitch of the winning team when she led the hackathon in Manila. "They were terrific. Well deserved!" she said.

"I am very happy we landed in the winning circle. This would be a big help particularly in addressing our health-related problems. One of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is on Good Health and Well Being and the problem they are trying to address is analysis related to dengue," said Science and Technology secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña. Rex Lor from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Philippines explained that the winning solution showcases the "pivotal role of cutting-edge digital technologies in the creation of strategies for sustainable development in the face of evolving development issues."

U.S Public Affairs counselor Philip W. Roskamp and PLDT Enterprise Core Business Solutions vice president and head Joseph Ian G. Gendrano congratulates the next group of Pinoy winners.

Sec. de la Peña is also very happy on this second time victory for the Philippines on the global competition of NASA. The first winning solution ISDApp uses "data analysis, particularly NASA data, to be able to help our fishermen make decisions on when is the best time to catch fish." It is currently being incubated by Animo Labs, the technology business incubator and Fab Lab of De La Salle University in partnership with DOST-PCIEERD. Project AEDES will be incubated by Animo Labs too.

Winners shall be invited to visit the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Florida in the following months.

University president Br. Raymundo B. Suplido FSC hopes that NASA Space Apps would "encourage our young Filipino researchers and scientists to create ideas and startups based on space science and technology, and pave the way for the promotion and awareness of the programs of our own Philippine space agency."

Vice President Leni Robredo recognized Space Apps as a platform "where some of our country's brightest minds can collaborate in finding and creating solutions to our most pressing problems, not just in space, but more importantly here on Earth."

"Space Apps is a community of scientists and engineers, artists and hackers coming together to address key issues here on Earth. At the heart of Space Apps are data that come to us from spacecraft flying around Earth and are looking at our world," explained by Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science.

"Personally, I'm more interested in supporting the startups that are coming out of the Space Apps Challenge," according to DOST-PCIEERD executive director Dr. Enrico C. Paringit.

In the Philippines, Space Apps is a NASA-led initiative organized in collaboration with De La Salle University, Animo Labs, DOST-PCIEERD, PLDT InnoLab, American Corner Manila, U.S. Embassy, software developer Michael Lance M. Domagas, and celebrates the Design Week Philippines with the Design Center of the Philippines of the Department of Trade and Industry. It is globally organized by Booz Allen Hamilton, Mindgrub, and SecondMuse.

Space Apps is a NASA incubator innovation program. The next hackathon will be on October 2-4, 2020.


#SpaceApps #SpaceAppsPH



Pinoy developers gather together to address real-world problems on Earth and space using NASA's free and open source data.

What Is the Future of Ecommerce in 2020?

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Since the time the concept of online shopping first came out, the e-commerce industry is booming at the fastest pace. As per Statista’ report, in 2019, around 2.05 billion people made an online purchase. The data clearly shows that the industry is not going to slow down in the near future.

Since every merchant is entering the growing e-commerce industry, the competition has increased a lot. To stay ahead in the game, you need to be aware of the ways to keep your products/services in front of the eyes of the customers.

One of the best ways to do that is by keeping yourself updated with the latest e-commerce trends. Although there is always a certain amount of risk involved in trying a new trend, that doesn’t mean you should stop experimenting with new things. After all, business is all about taking calculated risks. If you do not take risks, you will not be able to grow your business. When it comes to experimenting with trends, it’s crucial to make sure that whatever changes you make, you always make it for the betterment of your customers.

In this blog, we will discuss some significant trends, some of which are currently ruling, and some are expected to rule the e-commerce industry in the near future. Let’s take a look!

Native Social-Selling:

In 2017, Hubspot ran an experiment to check if the Facebook audience prefers native content or non-native content. And guess what the results were! They found that their Facebook audience preferred native video content 160X more than the non-native video content. The same preference is true with e-commerce. Nowadays, there are a lot of visual platforms that are being used by millions of people. Why not give them the option to shop within these platforms. A great example of native-social selling is Instagram. You must have seen ‘shoppable posts' in your daily feeds. This feature allows users to shop while remaining on the same platform. Currently, there are only a few brands that are following this trend, but by the end of 2020, we will see more brands moving in this direction.

Voice Searching:

Voice search has already shown its capabilities. From Amazon to Google, every tech mammoth aims to attract customers with their voice assistants and voice-based search solutions. Soon, this trend will continue to rule the e-commerce industry. According to the latest statistics, by 2022, voice shopping is expected to grow to 40 billion. A lot of e-commerce companies have started integrating the voice-search feature in their apps and website. If you want to integrate this feature in your business, here are a few tips:

In a voice search, people don’t speak the way they type keywords in text-based search. For example, where is an Italian restaurant near me? (voice search), an Italian restaurant near me (text search).Therefore, you need to optimize your website for questions that people generally used to ask.

Optimize your website for long-tail keywords

Make sure you appear locally as well as on Google as voice search is 3x times more likely to be local due to instant shopping needs.

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR):

Although AR and VR are not a new concept, they are two of the biggest technologies that are going to rule in 2020 and beyond. VR technology gives customers a more realistic experience. When a customer puts a VR gadget on their face, it makes them feel like they are shopping by standing in the physical store. AR, on the other hand, lets customers see the product video with some added virtual elements. Both technologies enhance the customer’s visualization of the product. And product visualization boosts sales and reduces returns. According to Deloitte, 90% of the companies with yearly sales of $100 million to $1 billion are taking advantage of AR or VR technology.

Product Customization:

Nowadays, customers want to add their imagination to the products they wish to buy. From clothing, jewelry to furniture, they want to design their products according to their personal requirement. This rising demand has motivated companies like PrintShop by Designhill to come up with a platform where customers can design everything – from phone cases, clothing to home & living. Product customization enhances the user experience, builds customer loyalty and helps in getting more sales.

Same-Day Delivery:

It is another trend that is going to rule in the e-commerce industry. Although it is a challenging service, in today’s fast-paced environment and with several options, consumers don’t have the patience to wait. They want their orders to be delivered as soon as possible. In fact, 61% of shoppers are ready to pay extra for same-day delivery service. By considering this behavior pattern, companies have started opting for ‘same-day delivery’ by using the latest technology.

New Payment Options:

When it comes to online shopping, the modes of payments can have a huge impact on customers’ buying decisions. No matter how great your product is and how well you have done the branding of your business, if your customers are not comfortable with the payment options, then they will not buy anything from your website. Although many new methods like Amazon Pay, PayPal, Google Pay, etc. have taken full control, in 2020 and coming years ‘cryptocurrency’ is going to trend in e-commerce platforms.

Visual Search:

Just imagine that you are in a store and see a beautiful couch. But because of the price, you may not feel like buying it from the store. So, you take a picture and use eBay’s image search feature to find the same product on their website at a better deal. Companies, nowadays, have started giving an option of visual search, where customers can upload the picture of the product from their photo gallery and search it on their websites. Since this trend allows customers to buy a product at the best price, therefore it drives them to shop online even if they are standing at the physical store.

Conclusion:

So, folks, these are the trends that are redefining the online shopping experience. If you want to grow your e-commerce business into something big then it’s time to start implementing them at the earliest. 

Good Luck!


Author Bio

Anne Carton is a small business consultant, designer and an enthusiast blogger working with PrintShop by Designhill owned by Designhill, is a creative print-on-demand marketplace where you can discover & buy 50+ unique products, gifts & artwork created by artists around the world.