POOR INTERNET CONNECTIVITY IN THE PHILIPPINES

A REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE

A technical paper that embarks upon the actual objectives of the State for the benefit of stakeholders and users of Internet Services in the Philippines will shed light on the existing and future aspects of the service.

Such a paper shall make apparent all the reasons and basis for explaining the current state of Internet in the Philippines.

As the situation stands, Internet service in the country today is miserably slow and yet it counts as being among the most expensive all over the world. Why did such a situation come into being?  How were investments and revenues of the licensed providers used to allow this to happen?  What factors helped cause the snail paced speed of Internet in spite of exorbitant earnings amassed by providers from helpless subscribers? In the face of such wretched conditions is the Philippine Government simply going to stay immobile and inutile and not lift a hand to correct the problem?

A huge volume of literature abound on the problem of very slow Internet in the Philippines and the attendant malady of extremely high prices for Internet subscription.  Most of the existing material about the causes of poor Internet Connectivity relate to technical concerns. Some of the current literature are ZTE [2014]; Huawei [2015]; Alcatel-Lucent [2015]; Ericsson [2015]; Nokia Solutions and Networks [2013]; Anritsu [2015]; Motorola [2008], among many others.

Slow Internet in the Philippines

Little do the current crop of Philippine stakeholders know that any scarce resource in the telecommunications industry, to include every single one of the specific bandwidths of the various Spectrum of our Radio Frequencies, are only allocated by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Some quarters believe that owning the entire breadth of one whole Spectrum, whether one is able or unable to pay the Spectrum Usage Fee (SUF) to the government, is legal and just okay.

From Hyper Terminal to Aerotropolis Airport

About ten years ago around 2004, Jakarta completed its Plan for the upgrade of Soekarno Hatta International Airport Hyper Terminal - the full construction of which took until 2009 to finish.

The resulting architecture design consisted of the air transport terminal facilities and alongside these was a built in full dress commercial mall - business district with a profusion of greens inside the complex itself - refreshing gardens within the airport that became the inspiration for so many designs today. Most of the ideas that will live on forever with the structures in Soekarno Hatta International Airport Hyper Terminal are borne of the exemplary competence and ingenuity of Paul Andreu.

Mr. Paul Andreu and his unique designs including the New Administrative Center of the City of Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China (upper middle), the National Grand Theater - Beijing, China and the Osaka Maritime Museum (upper right).

Some features of Soekarno Hatta International Airport seen from photos published on the web are shown below:

The idea may not have been completely new during the time of its inception between 2000-2004, however Jakarta did bring the concept several notches higher. The elegant blending of the huge mall with the large sized airport, did give justice to the sobriquet of Hyper Terminal.

Today, the Seokarno Hatta International Airport Hyper Terminal design is being emulated globally and aptly so, since it contains unique characteristics and features that make it easier for airport services to be delivered especially with quick presents, fast linkaging with the outside world within the confines of the airport itself, among many other pleasant premiums for the traveling customer - notwithstanding the gentle and warm hospitality of Indonesians and their winsome smiles.

With the recent expansion of the Soekarno Hatta International Hyper Terminal, it again elevated its status to Aerotroplis Airport that envisages to accommodate more than 60,000,000 (60 Million) passengers inside one year.

This concept will be brought to the Philippines, barring any impediments and in particular, to the Region of Eastern Visayas that fairly recently, in November 2013, suffered from the onslaught of Super Typhoon Haiyan or locally known by the Philippine code name Yolanda.

Highlights of the description of Indonesia's Hyper Terminal, soon to be Aerotropolis Airport is shown below:

Soekarno–Hatta Airport began operations in 1985, replacing the former Kemayoran Airport (for domestic flights) in Central Jakarta, and Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport in East Jakarta.[5] Kemayoran Airport has since been made into public areas. Halim Perdanakusuma is still operating, serving hajj flight, VVIP, charters and military flights and since January 2014 is reactivated for domestic schedule commercial flights to ease Cengkareng Airport. Terminal 2 opened in 1991 and Terminal 3 opened in 2009. In 2010, total passengers reached 43.7 million, surpassing the 38-million-passenger capacity of all 3 terminals.[6] In 2012, the airport was the 9th busiest airport in the world with 57.8 million passengers, a 12.1% increase over 2011.[2] And in May 2014, becomes the 8th busiest airport in the world with 62.1 million passengers.[7] It is also the busiest airport in the Southern Hemisphere.

Although the airport is running over capacity, on May 4, 2012, after verification from April 23 to May 3, the Airport Council International (ACI) stated that Soekarno–Hatta International Airport is clearly being operated safely.[8] To overcome the overcapacity, on August 2, 2012, ground was broken at terminal 3 to make it into an Aerotropolis airport which can serve 62 million passengers per year. This is predicted to be complete by the end of 2014.[9] A third, 3,660-by-60-metre (12,010 ft × 200 ft), runway is planned to be built in 2015, costing 4 trillion rupiah.[10]

Between 1974 and 1975, a Canadian consultant/consortium, consisting of Aviation Planning Services Ltd., ACRESS International Ltd., and Searle Wilbee Rowland (SWR), won a bid for the new airport feasibility project. The feasibility study started on 20 February 1974, with a total cost of 1 million Canadian dollars. The one-year project proceeded with an Indonesian partner represented by PT Konavi. By the end of March 1975, the study revealed a plan to build three inline runways, three international terminal buildings, three domestic buildings and one building for Hajj flights. Three stores for the domestic terminals would be built between 1975 and 1981 at a cost of US$ 465 million and one domestic terminal including an apron from 1982–1985 at a cost of US$126 million. A new terminal project, named the Jakarta International Airport Cengkareng, began.[11]

Design

Tropical garden fill the spaces between Javanese-styled pendopo waiting and boarding pavilions. The airport's terminal 1 and 2 was designed by Paul Andreu, a French architect who also designed Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. One of the characteristics of the airport is the incorporation of the local architecture into the design, and the presence of tropical gardens between the waiting lounges. These unique characteristics earned the airport the 1995 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.[12] The runways run northeast-southwest. There are two parallel runways, on the north and south side. The airport terminal took the plan of spanning fan, with the main entrances of terminals connected to a series of waiting and boarding pavilions via corridors. These waiting and boarding pavilions are connected to the airplanes through boarding bridges. Terminal 1 is in the southern side of the airport, while Terminal 2 and 3 are on the north side.

The airport concept is described as "garden within the airport" or "airport in the garden", as tropical decorative and flower plants fill the spaces between corridors, waiting and boarding pavilions. The boarding pavilions demonstrate local Indonesian vernacular architecture, particularly the roof, in the Javanese stepped-roof pendopo/joglo style. The interior design displays the diversity of Indonesian art and culture, with ethnic decorative elements taken from wooden carvings of Java, Bali, Sumatra, Dayak, Toraja to Papua. Another example is the railings of stairs, doors and gates, which show the kala-makara (giant head and mythical fish-elephant creature) theme typical in ancient Indonesian temples such as Borobudur. Terminal 3, however, has a different architectural style—unlike the ethnic-inspired Indonesian vernacular architecture of terminal 1 and 2, terminal 3 uses the contemporary modern style of large glass windows with metal frames and columns.

Source: Soekarno Hatta International Airport. Wikipedia. Updated September 12, 2014.

We certainly consider it most welcome to engage in undertaking in the expansion of the target Eastern Visayas Airport with the design of Indonesia's Hyper Terminal and possibly in the future, adopting Indonesia's Aerotropolis Airport concept as well.

Eastern Visayas Airport Expansion

WHY THE PHILIPPINES NEEDS AN EXPANDED AIR SERVICES TERMINAL FOR EASTERN VISAYAS


by Greengold CyberparkHoldings Corporation

Background

Aviation, aeronautics is a United States Dollars Three Trillion (US$3,000,000,000,000) per annum industry[1], to which the Philippine aviation sector contributes only less than a fraction of one percent (1%) – and equivalent to 0.051% only the country – Republic of the Philippines’ Gross Domestic Product.

The entire Asian Region commands a thirty two percent (32%) share of these US$5 Trillion revenues. The question is whether, the Philippines, from hereon until 2030, can dramatically change its standing in the ratings of travel destinations and number of transiting passengers, as well as in revenues per mile of air traffic.

Obviously, something needs to be done and there is a real need to seriously attend to the concerns and problems inherent to as well as presently besetting air transport in the country.

The expertise and the infrastructure are already there and the needed links that can be brought into the equation are waiting to be made, cemented and made profit of. These just need to be started and made wholly productive and profitable to the Philippines.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) was privatized due in part to the master development plan to develop a privatized Air Traffic Services system in the Philippines and that included throwing the entire weight of the old Air Transportation Office (ATO) – representing the regulatory authority in civil aviation in the country – into the picture.

For that reason alone, CAAP became a privatized entity. However the objectives and goals forecast in such an event still need to be realized:

• Full Modernization of Civil Aviation monitoring systems equipment
• Place Philippine Civil Aviation systems at least at par with those of China, Malaysia that in 1990s have only recently begun their own modernization
• Extensively increase muscle through revenue generated from modernized system
• Increase safety in Philippine Civil Aviation
• Engage in campaigns in cooperation with other state civil aviation authorities for air transport safety, increased travel demand to the Philippines through forming of alliances between Philippine air sector and foreign aviation groups – among many others[2] 

Pros and Cons of Eastern Visayas Airport Expansion

After November 2013 many sectors strongly revived the argument that the country needed to seriously consider expanding its airport capacity in the south east that was directly hit by a devastating catastrophe and may be subjected once more to similar tragedy in the future.

Figure 1. Map of Existing Eastern Visayas Airport Terminals

Davao: Development imperatives

Like the determination of the people of Fukushima and Sendai, Japan to transfer habitat centers from low-lying areas to higher ground, this should be the resolve of government in Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City and other areas severely hit by flash flood: immediate and comprehensive relocation. We don't care at all if the United Nations is promoting resilient communities. God bless all those hardworking people at the U.N. but to hell with that campaign of building resilient communities. We are amazed at what that very good Korean Secretary General is actually doing at his office in the U.N.

If an advanced society such as Japan could not ward off the onrushing killer floods that took away thousands and thousands of lives, environmental hazards such as these in Mindanao should be avoided, not confronted. Japan's determination towards relocation, despite their lament of limited government funding available at the time immediately after the killer quake tsunami hit Sendai and Fukushima the worst, is very laudable. This includes the adept show of concern by the private sector -- particularly the financial section.

Thus the planning for the building of new habitats in the high grounds of Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, even  areas like Butuan City that is too flood prone and lies within a huge earthquake fault that not providentially, passes through the middle of Butuan's lake that huddles close to the coastline. To compound matters, Philippine Institute of Volcanology admits that it has only been recently finding new fault lines in the area surrounding Davao, Cagayan and Butuan and is pleading with the local government units to fund studies for ascertaining the exact coordinates of the large new earthquake fault in Bukidnon province - just a stone's throw away from Davao.

On page 6 and 7 of the Fleurdelis Green Heights Village host community study, we quote the Phivolcs statement that:

Among these faults, the Philippine Fault is a neotectonic feature crosscutting the  Agusan-Davao Basin which seals tectonic events not younger than Eocene. In addition, the Central Cordillera shows strong similarities with the Pacific Cordillera for both stratigraphy and tectonic evolution, and several indications favor a Eurasian margin affinity for the Daguma Range (Southern and Eastern Kudarat Plateau that may be part of the Sangihe arc, as inferred for the Zamboanga Peninsula and the Northern Arm of Sulawesi.

Thus the island of Mindanao can be divided into two composite terranes, the western one (northward extension of the Sangihe arc) being restricted to the Kudarat Plateau and the Zamboanga Peninsula. The apparent continuation of the Sangihe arc into the Central Cordillera of Mindanao is thus the result of post collision tectonics. The portion of the suture where the collision is completed curves westward north of the southern peninsula and extends beneath the sediments of the Cotabato Basin or the volcanic plateaus of the Lanao-Misamis-Bukidnon Highlands.

In the northern part, the contact is linear and suggests, together with the absence of compressional deformation, a docking of the eastern oceanic terrane (Philippine Mobile Belt-Halmahera arc) against the western continental terrane (Zamboanga-Daguma) in a strike-slip environment. Prior to Early Pliocene, the eastern and the western terranes were subject to different tectonic regimes with direction  of extension perpendicular to the present one. From Late Pliocene to present, both terranes are affected by NNE and E-W compression. Click this link to see the Agusan fault line map.

Central Mindanao's Davao and Butuan's fate when it comes to earthquake related disaster are intertwined with that of the Eastern Mindanao (Cotabato, Kudarat, Maguindanao etc.) region and the Western Mindanao (Zamboanga, Sulu, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi).

The priority as of this time seems to be general vicinity encompassing Davao, Butuan and the Cagayan de Oro areas.

If studied carefully, the areas hit by the Davao flash floods appear to be a basin trapped in the middle of very high ground rising to over 1,000 feet above sea level. No wonder why too many residents helplessly died during the calamity. If Butuan forms part of this basin, as Phivolcs states above, more casualties will be expected in the near future where during the last eighty years there were almost nil. On the other hand, the tragedy that hit Cagayan de Oro that claimed close to 5000 lives, was caused by building a housing project in an island in the middle of a river, at the mouth of the sea.

Both private sector and government should start moving in the same direction, in the same model patterned after the post-disaster cooperation in Dagupan City and nearly the whole of Pangasinan Province in 1990 and 1991 and henceforth. That was truly the highest level of very close inter-action between social sectors intended to resolve a pitiful and dire situation. We saw it with our own eyes and participated in the process and the entire affair yielded astounding success. Good for the people of Pangasinan.

We hope this will be replicated in Mindanao. Beyond the planning, design, the construction, this level of cooperation is the greatest imperative for recently calamity-prone Mindanao.

Related Articles:

Minimal floods Singapore (for now?) -  Public Utilities Board Singapore

Widespread flooding in South Africa - Relief Web

Flood Alert - Mozambique - Relief Web

Australia: Highest Rainfall from Oswald causes floods - Huffington Post

Floods hit Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - The Star

Two Rivers Swallow Island Villages - IPhilippine Daily Inquirer

North Korea Floods killed 170 - Guardian News UK

212,000 homeless from North Korea floods - BBC News

Killer Landslides in Korea  -  Andrey Eroshin

Flash floods, mudslides in Korea  - Columbia Tribune

Landslides, flash floods hit Korea  -  Reuters

List of Deadliest Floods - Wikipedia

Techno Hub Project 3

The third project, LHRR is originally with the government.

However, the pace at which the project is moving, can sometimes be too slow for comfort.

We decided to take on a different, alternate site, with the same size although different circumstances.

The template for the LHRR project is for the De Guia Estate, situated in nearby Cavite Province wherein the property cannot be acquired until a new title can be issued by the appropriate government functionary. The existing title is obsolete and has to be re-issued by competent authority. There are no liens nor encumbrances to the title except that the document is outmoded since it is a Spanish title. The original template that will be used as a model for LHRR takes on a senior citizen's habitat model. However, some very slight modifications for the actual LHRR may be in order, the final output will still include a component of the homes dedicated for our senior citizens.

Standards for Foreign Contractors

Advice to Foreign Contractors:

1.  The standards for foreign contractors for the THP I-III undertakings will vary from country to country.

2.  There will be separately drawn contract terms between Cyberpark and foreign entities, suitable to the culture and legal requirements of both the Philippines and the country of origin of the foreign contractor.

3.  In case of dispute, Philippine law will be applied only to a minimum, the provisions of international arbitration shall be invoked.

In brief, there will be least restrictions for the entry of foreign contractors, as long as they will comply with the reglamentary procedures for foreign companies to undertake business in the Philippines, including the acquisition or application for the appropriate visas for their executives, middle level managers and supervisors as well as staff.  On this score, there will be ample capability for the Procuring Entity to provide assistance to the Contractor, if and when it will be requested.