Google Best Apps of 2013 Winner “whoscall” Released on LINE

Wazzup Pilipinas!

LINE, the world’s leading mobile platform with 320 million users worldwide, today announced the release of LINE whoscall, a free call-filtering and number management app for Android developed by Gogolook Co., Ltd., a world leading caller ID service company.

LINE whoscall for Android devices will allow users to identify the source of incoming numbers and filter out unwanted calls and messages. The app is a reworked interface for LINE users based on whoscall, which has been downloaded more than 5 million times worldwide, and was selected for the Google Best Innovation Award of 2013 in eight regions, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

LINE whoscall utilizes a database of over 600 million numbers, including businesses and shops, sourced from the Yellow Pages and other public data resources to automatically identify and display the source of incoming calls and messages as they arrive. This allows users to filter out suspicious numbers before they answer a call or message.

Feast of the Black Nazarene: Devotees Sacrifice in Exchange of Favors?

Wazzup Pilipinas!

“The Black Nazarene is an ironic pornographic celebration of violence—the overt violence of the past and the more subtle violence of the present.....The familiarity of the Jesus story has anesthetized us from what is at the heart of the ritual. Millions of men, women, and children are parading around with a wooden statue of a bloodied victim of torture, capital punishment, and God-sanctioned human sacrifice. The Black Nazarene is an ironic pornographic celebration of violence—the overt violence of the past and the more subtle violence of the present.” - Filipino Freethinkers.org

January 9, the annual Feast of the Black Nazarene once again drew millions of devotees as expected. It is also expected that around 60,000 devotees are to attend the procession in Cagayan De Oro City. The  statue is over 400 years old and has survived fires, earthquakes, and the devastation of the 2nd World War. It is paraded around the city until its way back to the Basilica in what is known as the Traslacion.

The Nazarene devotion is the most successful example of what the church wants to accomplish. The dream that drew the founders of the Church of the Nazarene together is still the same dream that guides it today. Some may vehemently resent the eventual circumstances just to meet the objectives, but a great number probably just want to test and follow their faith blindly. A sacrifice in exchange of favors.

Bunkhouses: Overpriced and Substandard Pwede Na Ba Yan?

Wazzup Pilipinas!

"Following criticisms that the government's standards were far below international standards, Palace spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said on Wednesday, January 8, that the Philippines doesn't have to follow world standards. ...."We are following our standards. We don’t necessarily have to follow the international standards," he said." - Rappler

The Philippines rarely follow international standards. We don't realize that it is one of the reasons why we cannot successfully compete globally.

This is clearly a case of "Pwede na yan" or "Bahala na yan" which is very common with people in the Philippine government.

The bunkhouses or temporary shelters for typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) victims were also reported overpriced and substandard. It was quoted that P959,360 for a 12 unit bunkhouse (which boils down to about P80,000 per unit) which is to serve as temporary shelter. Gawad Kalinga only spends around P 125,000 per unit for a permanent shelter. Clearly there is a problem here.