Strategic Measures in Place to Ensure Power During Elections

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Power Task Force Election (PTFE) 2016, led by the Department of Energy (DOE), lays down measures to ensure that power supply is sufficient, stable, and reliable before, during, and after the conduct of national and local elections on 09 May.

"Actually, we have two task forces that are looking into the integrity of the power supply chain to secure supply of electricity particularly during the period one week before and one week after the election day, especially within and near the voting precincts," said Energy Secretary Zenaida Y. Monsada.

Sec. Monsada further averred that since December last year, the PTFE has started ground works, including coordination meetings with energy stakeholders, and identification of tasks and responsibilities of member agencies in employing strategic and preparatory measures to ensure availability and stability of power supply not only for the elections period, but for the entire summer months.

The PTFE's latest and ongoing initiatives to ensure that all systems nationwide are ready and in place prior to the elections include conduct of tabletop drills and information, education and communication campaigns among stakeholders (i.e., Distribution Utilities, Generation Companies, Transmission Companies, and various government energy agencies) to equip them with best practices during crisis management; directive to DUs to ensure power supply by contracting needed capacities ahead, and making sure that backup power is available should power failure occur; prioritization scheme for the provision of electricity service to voting centers; and advisory to gencos to undertake maintenance either ahead or after the critical period to enable all available plants to run on full capacity during these times.

Artistang Artlets Proudly Presents Pendulum by Rani Mae Aberin

Wazzup Pilipinas!

What will you do if someone else is controlling your life for you?

Lurking at dimensions we thought did not exist, the god of time Kronus and his apprentice Hana are tasked to manage the time and destiny of the people in this human world.

Are you willing to be bounded by the laws of time and space? Or will you find a way to keep the past and the precious memories?

Artistang Artlets, the Official Theater Guild of the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Santo Tomas, on its 35th Season, proudly presents: “Pendulum” by Rani Mae Aberin, a story about time and destiny– and how these two are important in life, love, and relationships.

Pendulum will be directed by Janus Matthew Martinez and produced by Christine Ann Camille Baria. This will be staged from April 26, 27 & 28, 2016, with the time slots 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 7pm at the Education Auditorium, Albertus Magnus Building, University of Santo Tomas.

For inquiries please contact Kristianne Coleen Cañamo (09153967730), or visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ArtistangArtletsUST. Twitter: @artstngartlts

IPC to Banks: Your Cybersecurity Measures are Not Enough

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Local cloud services pioneer and IT security specialist IPC strongly urges financial institutions to safeguard their systems by deploying up-to-date security measures to ensure data and network protection. IPC called on banks to check on their current data security setup, stating that even the most secure institutions are not exempt from the alarming increase in crimes perpetrated online.

“This is a reality that has caused the loss of significant revenue for many businesses. The global recorded cost of cyber attacks is at $400-500 billion dollars per year― roughly fifty percent of which is from DDoS attacks,” said IPC President Rene Huergas, citing data from DDoS Mitigation partner Nexusguard. Unless executives take stock of this as a serious issue at hand, companies are most likely to lose more.

IPC acknowledges that some institutions may have inadequate system and network security layers to protect them from cyber attacks. “This poses an even greater danger to both the customer as well as the institution. As data and network security is a commodity in this day and age, now is the best time to recognize that the threats are real and can make businesses vulnerable and susceptible to attacks; banks and financial institutions being the most inclined to this kind of attack,” added Huergas.

Just recently, several Iranian hackers have been indicted following a well-orchestrated cyber attack on US banks. The criminals hit the banks with DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks on an almost weekly basis, flooding their servers with illegitimate traffic that slowed websites down and caused millions in lost business.