Sanctity of Letters Could Be In Threat

Is it SOP or subjective bias by a local?  Make it loud.

"May isa ka pa nito?  Translation:  Do you still have one of this?  The postal office employee curtly asks for a copy of the letter that is the content of an envelope requested sent overseas with implied assurance of confidentiality.   Naturally , the writer expects the postal employee must have known that there must be respect for privacy of communication.

Seems like there is none in the city of Laspinas, postal office,specifically where it concerns handling official letter or correspondence addressed to an official that is chosen not to be named in this post.

The thing is, the postal employee could have gotten away with her seemingly benign request to have a copy of the letter that is to be sent abroad.

But this is second time that the local postal office in two separate incidents, had asked for one.  In previous attempts, also a copy was requested before the letter was sent out, implying a sort of restriction imposed against the sender.

The sender of the letter happens to be a writer and a full time homemaker who has been targeted already with a lot of hate language, shame and slur ever since she chose to reside in the city of Laspinas.

But this time, the letter is not an ordinary one that can simply be dispelled, hence the sublime bias cannot be taken for granted.

After the blatant request, the postal employee simply asked for the sender to write the address again on the parcel, in an unapologetic way, as if what she asked for that could threaten the privacy of communication, was not at all an issue for anyone.

There seems to be a pervasive disrespect for media and the jobless locally that one who is often seen in the outskirts of public acceptance or usual expectations, are often relegated to a cold shoulder treatment and discourtesy by the locals.

NRP news

How To Be Likeable When Everyone Thinks You're An Outcast

 Anecdote.

You'll never guess how easy it is to be likeable when everyone is on a distance.

For years I have been wracking my brains how to up my posts with a like or follow.  

Not for popularity but to know the mindset of the anonymous reader, how a person reacts to a post, or what drives an individual to "like".

In the personal reel of daily interactions, being liked seems to be easy.  

One just have to look presentable, and be up to the standards of everyone else's estimation.

But in the real scheme of things, bias and stereotypes abound personal conversations and interactions, where one can be labeled as a nobody, or a somebody.  

Someone to friend or someone to unlike.

I know one personality who took a career path reserved for the unique, and grew a base of followers and supporters by way  insulting his own or mouthing trivias about another.  

Like making fun of others' mistakes, punctuating how they are to be laughed.  This personality won popularity and gained friends by insulting his own circle.

Recently an anecdote taught me it is also true for others. And could be true for even an outcast.

In a jest I made a comment on my own kin, in front of another, pointing out how my kin, has acted in an awkward way.  

This tactless comment changed the anonymous face of the person in front of me as if liking that I insulted my own. 

Suddenly the person who was anonymous and acted always with a stolid face, showed gladness and smiles, when I spoke a careless slur, not for anything and not to gain a like. 

For once, I drew a welcoming reaction by being negative towards another.

It is a puzzle that some had to grow words that taint another's image in order to be likeable.

It is I suppose an unnecessary human interaction locally that signals, to win favor one must to step on another, to climb a bit higher.

It is not for the faint hearted though.

@social commentary/ lifestyle.

NRP

social commentary.

Porridge for the Rich. Logos for the Maid.

Of False Humility and Bloated Egos

Porridge for the rich. 

The new face of tyranny for the service of the ordinary.

When Working for Media is Hard; and Being a Woman Makes It Harder to Survive

 A women's month feature.  An essay by a woman for the woman who aspires for better opportunities back home.

The truth of middle-age displaced women in media

Where survival for the fittest also requires survival of the meanest.

Pag-Ibig Loyalty Card Draws Crowd

In an era of crunch savings and hurried investments, when everyone seems to want recoup what they lost during the pandemic, one product offering discounts to members seem to have done a great deal of good vibes among patrons.

This is the Pag-Ibig Loyalty card, which now brags of offering discounts when purchasing or buying from a local fast food giant like McDonald's and other affiliate companies.

The Pag-Ibig loyalty card has been around for quite a while but of late, more women have been flaunting use of this card especially while in queue at the fast food where a discount of five percent for Pag-ibig Loyalty card members can be availed.

PAG-IBIG has an exclusive mutual savings fund that can be started by individual payors, or with the employer and employee combined contributions, and members can also register for a loyalty card on voluntary basis, for a cost of Php 125.00 

.

The card  features a securely printed photo of the loyalty card member, and also doubles as a cash card facility for Pag-Ibig members.

Filipinos and returning workers from overseas who patiently lined up outside the Pag-Ibig Laspinas branch at the Robinson's Place come in different ages, professions and background.

One member  shares thru member to member convo (slang:  conversation), that he is from San Pedro, but is going over the said branch for a loyalty card that he had lost abroad.

The only downside to enlisting for the loyalty card is that a member has to patiently wait for long hours to get their chances at owning the card.  

One Pag-Ibig regular member lined up at around 8:30 a.m. and got the chance to be called at the front counter at around 1:30pm for form submission and photo capture.

A common reason for the slowdown of members' form acceptance for the loyalty card membership are duplicitous Pag-ibig member ID numbers; and incomplete document submissions such as birth certificates.

Written and filed by the writer/blogger of News Review Philippines.

03182024/news

It's Not Just "Galunggong", It's Also Milkfish Price Rocketeering

 Swim further, sink dipper, consumers. If you aren't complaining, you're not from this country.

There is a big catch in the market.  And these are not the fish products that come in "banyeras" (here meant as large tubs where the fish on sale are placed or stored).  It is the fact of the rising costs of common food staples that women often buy for their families regularly.

As the President recently announced on social media about looking into the prices of the popular "galunggong", a pillar of Pinoy political advocacy for consumer rights to affordable food, it seems that other market items have been wallowing under the sun as well with their steep prices.

A kilo of "bangus" (milkfish), a common ingredient for the all-time favorite "sinigang", now tips the price scale at Php 150.00, to less than Php 200.00 plus in local markets down south of NCR. 

In groceries, prices are further higher, and the same kilo depending on size, would cost about P50.00 more making it less than Php 300.00.  A piece could last for about 2-5 days depending on the number of persons to dine in the family.

Other kinds of seafood, despite their lowered costs compared to the first two market items mentioned, are also not getting enough rave from consumers.  Like the "pusit" (squid) and the "tilapia", with prices that are equal if not as expensive, but still unable to attract buys from customers.

The markets are more active now unlike in previous months when consumer buying needed a boost and approbation.  

With the expensive costs of fish products in the market, what more can Filipinos buy as prices of meat and chicken are also not as affordable? 

The increase in the prices of fish is noticeably above 25 percent than it was 5 years ago before the onset of the pandemic.

Vegetable produce seems to be the only thing that is within the grasp of the ordinary market goer as the budget shrinks not just for housewives but also for working dads.

News Review Philippines

February 12, 2024

DEEP FAKING SUPECTING

 

THE SITE MIRRORS THE ORIGINAL, THE "FAKE BRANDED" AD  MUST BE FLAGGED.

A prominent ad placed along the upper ranks of news media articles for the day came with a stern warning about a news media personality, with content that postures a previous interview that can put the said individual in a negative light.

The "poser content" which significantly features an on-camera conversation with a media luminary tends to portray the personality as enterprising, and as an individual raring to earn by way of a side hustle.  

The questionable interview has a second variation. It still features the media man but with a different content, and with the same branding elements of a popular website that were obviously replicated and faked.

The ads also contain a lot of errors of facts from the name of the news media site which the media personality is identified with; down to the mismatched lines and voices on the audio that were unmistakenly dubbed. These "fake branded" ads are, "sus" (here creatively used as "suspectingly").

A second look at the origin of the ad site, one would be informed that the ad fronts an address typical of dubious internet sites that do not signify credibility in a name.   With contents that can further spread confusion among consumers of news and information.  

Also, the content being old-dated, could have been reposted, from the first time of its publication on searches, making it a recurring problem that must be continually verified.    

The dubious interview could be categorized as a "deep fake", a recent internet concern among information providers; as deep fakes could go from video, audio, and graphics, that are edited and meant to spread disinformation. 

Sites, articles, and content that have questions on authenticity must be avoided and flagged, to discourage posers and deep fake instigators from creating similar works that can hurt media credibility, and add confusion to the already breeding ground for fake news, the internet that is.

News Review Philippines 2024.

THE WAVE OF HURRY SHOPPING

IS IT ALL ABOUT BRANDING? 

An analysis of shopping attitudes conversion, in the era of discount thirst.

PERHAPS THERE IS TRUTH IN THE MAGIC OF PINK TO CHANGE HEARTS. 

Here at home, this color is the ultimate symbol of femininity. 

In fashion, it is the symbol of the ultimate "belle", never masculine, and always elegantly dressed.

In another, pink translates to young love.

Perhaps, it is the color that has pushed a change of gear for women grocery shoppers.

THIS ARTICLE IS WRITTEN TO GIVE A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON HOW WOMEN THINK IN THE ERA OF E-COMMERCE; THE NO-BILL, NO-TATTERED MONEY WAY OF SHOPPING.

Away from the anonymity that e-commerce presents, which has become the tone of the times for many shopping-deprived women, there is a vague reality that only a heavily discounted grocery brand presents to most women locally.

This need pertains to the women's desire to be listened to in terms of needs, wants, and values, in the realm of shopping.

WHILE WE CAN COUNT THAT MANY GROCERIES HAVE LONG REIGNED AS THE GROCERY CHAIN THAT HAILS ITSELF TO THE  MASSES, DEFINITELY CATERING TO THE ORDINARILY POCKETED, THIS NEWCOMER THAT IS SEEMED BENT ON WOOING WOMEN FROM THE PLAIN CLOTHES SHOPPERS TO THE MICRO BUNDLERS, PROBABLY KNOWS THAT WOMEN HAVE BEEN FAULTED ALL THE TIME FOR NOT BEING BUDGET-CONSCIOUS ENOUGH.

Ergo a revival for budget grocery shopping that is not for the ultrahefty, but made for the mini me convenience.

CONVENIENCE AND AFFORDABILITY ARE ALL THE RAGE AND FEEL OF THIS GROCERY HAUNT THAT IS SO HARD TO MISS EVEN ON THE BUSIEST OF STREETS AND ON THE HOTTEST OF DAYS.

The grocery brand that woke many women shoppers to the possibility of a decent option to other bigger-spaced, widely aisled grocery brands despite being "tingi-friendly" or slim-budgeted, can take pride in having items that are so affordable, without expecting consumers to simplify their staple foods at the Filipino dining table because of the rising costs of food these days.

What's more even the items that can be bought from ordinary sari-sari stores can also be bought here in this "pinklandia" for grocery shoppers-- from peanuts to chicharon; candies and pica-pica for the drinkers.

The basic commodities were also simplified allowing buyers to get their choice items in minuscule portions and sizes.  

No need to scour the aisle, by aisle for hours; or wade through the crate to crate for discounted items.  The floor layout was made simple enough that women could easily elbow their way through the spaces and out with the products and goods they wanted in as fast as five to ten minutes, with no time wasted for the busy moms.

Name your pick: coffee, tea, sugar, and an affordable version of bread or tasty, stack these in your basket and you have a morning eat already.

The brisk time and friendly price tags of items in this new trending grocery also carry frozen goods that are often picked by Filipino "silog" meal lovers- burger patties, tocino, mixed veggie packs, etc.  When cooked the meat products are just as tasty to the palate as those of the more expensive brands.

Another reason that this grocery is different from other "hebigat" stores are the attitudes of the people who frequent the store.

The grocery shoppers are more disciplined, more polite, and more courteous to other shoppers. Not the type to waste time and linger for a chika, and mostly they are individual shoppers unaccompanied or without an entourage.

Also buying from this grocery would spare an ordinary shopper to be heckled or taunted for buying one or a few cheap items in their cart, a common observation when doing this in other more popular groceries. The cashier and employees or attendants inside are not overly staffed and cramped to give them time to crowd over one customer. 

It is a very efficient setup even for employees who are simply busy without minding the personal interactions of other customers with their products or their choices.

PERHAPS, THIS LAST REASON IS WHAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD OF PINK GROCERY SHOPPING THAT IS DRESSED DOWN TO A MINIMALIST INTERIOR, YET STILL LOOKS APPEALING FOR DISCOUNT SHOPPERS.

Yes, there is a wave of new convenience shopping and it is the one that listens intently to what women want and look for in their grocery tags.

Posted by Anna Liza VB for News Review Philippines.

June 28, 2024. 

8:02pm

RESPONDING TO JOB ADS: IS IT WORTH IT?

Are virtual jobs outside the rules of propriety?

The lack of available jobs for middle-aged, returning workers could mean many settling for virtual jobs holstered by numerous ads on many social network sites locally. 

Hard to miss those ads, really. 

One ad could promise an easy Php 1,000 to Php 3,000, gig payout for applicants, as these also brag about the ease of applying. Or so one thinks.

Try responding to any pop-up ad that gives vague details of individual names and businesses that ask for part-time applicants; one will know it is not a walk in the park of convenience.  

Where inquiry is a just text or chat away, one can also be confronted with non-working links, registration errors, bouncing or slow-motion pages, and irate staff handling the inquiry.

The job ads lure virtual job applicants who are displaced by the normal recruitment process and those who have been excluded by many employment limitations: such as age, industry work availability, etc. Thus some workers, have been pounding for work that could be less than what their diploma should have earned for them-- the non-inclusive standards set by Human Resource personnel resulted in some returning professionals' ambivalence to the employment situation when all they can easily reach out for are ads rooting for VA jobs in the era of A1.  

At its best, the job ads which do not seem to discriminate when it comes to age and educational requirements or tech proficiency, give a shady impression as one progresses to chat with the business handler who prompts an applicant to register for a site. 

Nothing much has changed since the pandemic happened, even after local employers promised the shift to online work and the much-vaunted promise of availability of online jobs. 

Only, virtual jobs and work assist job offers are now more pervasive on social media sites and seem to have been tailored towards the promotion of products for e-commerce companies.

But "trying" the apply button is always worth a curious try when one has enough spare time.  

Clicking on the apply button can actually lead to another site, which leads again to another individual account with phone number details, profile photo, and an instant chance to chat and inquire about the job being offered anonymously.

Then comes the usual opening line or introduction. Most often a very brisk idea of how the business is, and what it needs from the part-time applicants.  

The next step is to click on the link that the staff has provided. A very vague alphabet numeral combination, the usual link line.

At this stage, the would-be applicant tries to input details. Usually a mobile and other required information. The problem lies not just in thinking through the "sending" of details but whether the details would be accepted; and in estimating if the site is legit. Also one will have to wait and see if one would be directed to a faulty site that is different from what the staff receptionist expects. 

The process really can take less than a minute depending on the number of fail tries. 

But as an applicant for virtual work,  one could rather surmise that there is a high chance that the sporadic ads are actually not that legit, after all.  

This realization would surface as one progresses into the chat inquiry as the individual staff converses with an applicant.

On the side of the brunt, terse, or frankness to a fault, the individual receptionist handling the message of an applicant for virtual jobs, could show a lack of training within 5 minutes into the conversation..

Below is a sample text of how an applicant could be treated by the so-called "business handler" of some e-commerce or shopping sites' marketing or affiliate companies, that aim to find part-time applicants through job ads:

The first message shows the first instance of an irate message sent to an applicant, by the business account handler or receptionist.  

The second message positions an assumption from the chat receptionist that the applicant did not at all register on the required site to go through the application process. It also came with a dissatisfied comment.

So how rude of a remark is considered appropriate to accept when one is a virtual job applicant, in this age when jobs are scarce for traditional middle-aged workers?

Workers, be aplenty and veer away from settling for much less when you can still prime for the best jobs that can be offered by more decent employers online

NEWS REVIEW PHILIPPINES 2024

January 16.

SCAMDEMIC AND THE CHALLENGES OF MASS COMM GRADUATES

 SCAMDEMIC AND THE CHALLENGES OF MASS COMM GRADUATES

One time in my chat conversations, a creative professional mentioned the term “scamdemic”, two words-in-one (to mean a combination of scam + pandemic), in which she alluded to the many expenses that had to be incurred by the ordinary citizen to fulfill the protocols set during the quarantine timeline.

I did not wish for her to elaborate on what she meant. But the term itself is true even if the pandemic did not happen.

When THE TERM WAS BROUGHT UP, THE CONVERSATION was initially meant to focus on job-hunting online (without the need to work in physical locations), and the need for more available employment for MEDIA and creative professionals of all ages, who have been displaced for the longest time by many contributing situations—the current pandemic; closure of a good number of media companies and the downsizing of employees, to name a few reasons for the unemployment.

The lack of employers who prefer to hire Mass Comm-related credentials further placed graduates into obscureness and irrelevance, in the era of social media.

WHY THE LOSS OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR MASS COMM GRADUATES?

This writer might have stressed in previous writing that the over-popularity of vlogging which opened a plethora of earning opportunities for many individuals, could also have given birth to the polarization of media companies which offered more tangible jobs in regular offices and with preset times for reporting.

 The polarization came with the increased pressure to come up with digitally proficient versions of their companies and the need to reformat media structures to accommodate vlog formats and other tech-induced online media productions. We merely put vlogging at the top because of its undeniable way of drawing workers to its fold. To further hyphenate on this,

Vlogging which features formal to informal productions of individuals or businesses, has given birth to the practice of many non-Mass Comm educated professionals coming from different fields and work backgrounds to go into media, entertainment, and documentary work as well, without the necessity of training or degree. Practitioners who are now  into vlogging are not just celebrities and news media personalities but graduates of the serious mold—the lawyers, politicians, etc, and the ordinary skilled individuals as well, who offer a variety of topics to discuss and vlog about.

There is a need to underscore that most of the skills and knowledge required for vlogging are instilled among Mass Comm students from their earliest journey to the end of their learning ropes in college.

With the democratization of news, lifestyle, travel, and entertainment productions that are more scalable rather than grandiose,  including other feature shows, Mass Comm practitioners have slimmer and not actually better opportunities to EARN AND LAND A STABLE CAREER online despite the soaring popularity of vlog work, propagated by many high-income earners.    

THE REASONS COULD BE:

1. VIRAL-CENTEREDNESS OF THE ONLINE MEDIA FORMAT AND ALL THE HYPE OF SENSATIONALISM THAT WORKS ON MANIPULATION OF ISSUES AND/OR OVEREXPOSING THE PRIVATE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS.  ALL OF THESE ARE NOT REALLY PART OF THE TRADITIONAL TEACHINGS OF THE OLD MASS COMM CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTED IN COLLEGES OF SENIOR MASS COMM PRACTITIONERS.

2.     A SECOND REASON IS THE DIFFICULTY OF GETTING SPONSORSHIPS FOR VLOG SITES. This is sparkly true even for local bloggers who do not use visual expression, or videos to beef up their content online.

For older practitioners, the gap in skills is EVIDENT in the quality of output of their content. THERE IS A NEED TO MENTION THAT for vlog work, a vlog's quality IS DEPENDENT ON THE availability of exhaustive and sometimes punitive resources, that one NEED to make use of, to better vlog productions- gadgets and apps included.

Mass Comm practitioners of the past era are used to minimalist technology and with low DEPENDENCE ON manpower.   Old-timers have been trained MORE to HANDLE multi-tasking and to hone basic media skills DESPITE THEIR NEED TO HAVE SKILLS FOR TEAMWORK FOR PRODUCTIONS. THEY HAVE focused on technology but not as brazen as the ones being offered these days like AI technology.  THEY ALSO LACK the financial management training that is necessary before going into fully integrated media work or venture.  This is a problem because most vlog productions require expenses that can range from minimal to exorbitant, DESPITE BEING SCALABLE. 

Also, ordinary Mass Comm graduates are used to being employed rather than having an unparalleled freedom to pursue creative independence as exhibited by start-up vlogs that put together one or more talents to PRODUCE CONTENT FOR VLOG, AS AN INDEPENDENT, without limits for topics, form of expression, use of technology and so forth.

HENCE THE REASON FOR DISPLACEMENT includes INCREASED COMPETITIVENESS OF other graduates trained in non-Mass Comm courses,  THOSE WHO HAVE BETTER RESOURCES AND MANPOWER ACCESS.  The media landscape truly has changed for the OLD TIMERS WHO SHY AWAY FROM CAMERA work OR IN YOUR FACE MEDIA PRODUCTIONS.

3. ANOTHER EXPLANATION FOR THE DISPLACEMENT OF MASS COMM GRADUATES FROM REAL MEDIA WORK OPPORTUNITIES, IS THE ZEALOUSNESS OF OTHER INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS TO VENTURE INTO MEDIA; THOSE WHO OBVIOUSLY AIM ONLY FOR POPULARITY AND CLOUT, THE FAST AND EASY WAY MORE THAN THE EXPRESSION OF PRESS FREEDOM, which is the first stalwart of MOTIVATION for going into mass media work.

To be continued…