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The city is paying some 230 “consultants” an average salary of $400,000 a year for a computer project that is seven years behind schedule and vastly over budget.
The payments continue despite Mayor Bloomberg's admission the computerized timekeeping and payroll system – called CityTime – is “a disaster.”
Eleven CityTime consultants rake in more than $600,000 annually, with three of them making as much as $676,000, city records obtained under a Freedom of Information request show.
via ‘Consultants’ getting $722M from city for doomed CityTime computer project.

Now, that Daniel Villar was brought to a private hospital-FEUH had the same reputation then as Makati Medical or Manila Doctors or St Luke's would have now-rather than, say, a government hospital like the Philippine General Hospital, or San Lazaro, does not necessarily disprove the Villar ad contention that his family was poor. It is not unusual for families, however poor, to do what is necessary in order to secure the best care for their children, and damn the consequences. That it was Funeraria Paz (one of the two top funeral parlors at that time), as indicated on the same death certificate, that took care of the funeral arrangements, again does not necessarily contradict the “I was poor” contention, for the same reason.
But then, Villar does not just say in the ad that his family was poor. He said his brother died because there was no money for medicine or medical care. That appears to be clearly contradicted by the certificate.
Moreover, there is the matter of the address provided by Villar senior: apparently, from pictures and on-site investigation, Bernardo Street in North Balut is part of San Rafael Village, a gated community, equivalent at that time to FilAm Homes in Quezon City. A copy of the Transfer Certificate of Title for the property-which is a 560-square-meter lot-has also been provided. Now anyone who can afford to buy a 560-square-meter lot (the TCT shows that Villar senior borrowed P16,000 from the GSIS for the release of the title-which at current prices is roughly equivalent to P1.266 million) is not exactly consistent with being dirt poor.
Finally, there is the matter of Senator Villar's assertion that if he just wanted to get richer, all he needed to do was get back to being a businessman. Again, the documentary evidence: his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) for 1992-the first year he joined government as a congressman-showed that his net worth was P75 million. After nine years of being a congressman, and eight years of being a senator, his most recent SALN (2008) shows a net worth of P1.047 billion. Being in public office surely has paid off for him.
via Awesome (claims) – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.

Hope this happens. Clark to our house in Balanga Bataan takes about 1hour, less if my brother drives. By bullet train I estimate a less than 30 minute journey from QC North Ave. Damn. Puwede akong mag uwian.  City salary level , provincial type life. woot.

San Miguel eyes Clark airport terminal, bullet train deals

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Reuters | 03/26/2010 5:09 PM
MANILA, Philippines – Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp. said on Friday it is looking at investing in an airport terminal and a bullet train to further expand its business interests to speed up future growth.
In response to media reports, San Miguel said it was evaluating whether to invest in a consortium looking to develop a second terminal at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in the Clark freeport zone in Pampanga, north of the capital.
“We further advise that the company commissioned a group that includes international experts to prepare an in-depth study relating to the construction and operation of bullet train facilities that will run the Laoag-Manila-Bicol route,” San Miguel told the stock exchange.
No further details were given of the bullet train for the main Luzon island, which would be the first in Southeast Asia.
Shares of San Miguel’s A-shares, which only Filipinos can buy, ended flat at P74 on Friday. Its B-shares, open to all, were also unchanged at P74, underperforming a 0.3% gain in the main index.
via San Miguel eyes Clark airport terminal, bullet train deals | ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

Based on my lay man’s reading of this. It’s not that they are being biased etc. It’s that the way they are doing the surveys are really not reliable and have thus been discontinued in the US and most industrialized nations. I hope Philippine Statistics Companies go with the best techniques etc to dispell the doubts. An example of this can be seen in the exit polls conducted during the 2007 elections. In the US exit polls are almost never wrong. This wasn’t true of the exit polls conducted here.

SWS gets back at detractors
By Richel Umel
Inquirer Mindanao
First Posted 13:38:00 03/26/2010
Filed Under: Research, Eleksyon 2010, Opinion surveys, Elections, Politics
CEBU CITY – “Hindi kami bayaran [We are not for sale].”
This was what Dr. Mahar Mangahas, president of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), said when asked about claims that surveys could be twisted in favor of those who commissioned them.
Several politicians had said that they had stopped believing in surveys because these did not reflect the real sentiment of the voters as far as the May 10 elections were concerned.
Some of them even accused survey outfits of deliberately twisting results in favor of those who commissioned the polls.
via SWS gets back at detractors – INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos.