IPC Teams Up with PIA to Keep Students “Off the Streets and Off to School”

Wazzup Pilipinas!

IPC (IP Converge Data Services, Inc.), a pioneer in local cloud and data center services, is pleased to announce that it is now a partner of the Philippine International Aid (PIA), a U.S.-based charity that has been providing health and educational assistance to underprivileged youth.

One of the PIA’s core initiatives is the “Off the Streets-Off to School” scholarship, a program that helps parents and teachers to keep kids in school. Administered in partnership with the Phil-Asia Assistance Foundation, the Off the Streets–Off to School program provides scholarships annually to more than 1,000 children in Metro Manila.

Together with their partners, PIA helps students go through elementary and college. The student's academic progress is monitored throughout the academic year and they are also encouraged to correspond with their respective benefactors.

An all-volunteer organization, PIA was established in 1986 to provide assistance to disadvantaged youth in the Philippines and the United States. Their core programs provide educational assistance to more children in the Philippines than any other U.S.-based charity. In 2013, aid was provided to more than 2,400 students.

Reallocate Interest Payments for Illegitimate Debts to Philhealth, Harm Reduction Strategies

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Amid the national discourse regarding the country’s foreign aid, Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros today called for the suspension of interest payments for “illegitimate debts” in the proposed 2017 national government budget.

In the Senate’s hearing of the Department of Health’s (DOH) proposed 2017 budget, Hontiveros also called for the reallocation of the said funds to important health services, particularly to Philhealth to achieve universal healthcare coverage and harm reduction programs to address the country’s drug problem through a public health approach.

“Foreign aid or loans by themselves are not bad. They can be a tool for development or a symbol of solidarity between nation-states. I am however opposed to aid or loans with neoliberal economic prescriptions and other grossly unfair and unconscionable terms; as well as debts that were not used for the benefit of the people. These loans take a large part of the people’s money, which could have been allotted instead to important social services like health,” Hontiveros said.

Hontiveros, citing the study of the debt watchdog, Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), said that there are at least 13 debt contracts in the government budget with interest payments amounting to P 739.54 million. The amount does not include the debts’ principal amortization worth P 5.39 billion. The said debts are: Sixth Road (Tullahan) Project, Power Sector Development Program, Pampanga Development Flood Control, Bohol Irrigation Phase II, Angat Water Supply Optimization, Philippine Rural Development Project, Agrarian Reform Communities Project, Agrarian Reform Communities Project 2, Third Elementary Education Project, Small Water Impounding Management, Help for Catubig Agricultural Advancement, Global Maritime Safety and the Emergency Network Project. The FDC challenged the debts as “fraudulent.”


100 % healthcare coverage

Hontiveros, who is the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography, said part of the fund originally allocated for the said debts can be reallocated to Philhealth to attain 100% healthcare coverage, over and above the allocation it receives from sin taxes.


Harm reduction programs

The senator also wants part of the fund diverted to the building of more rehabilitation centers, and community-based drop-in centers and outreach services, and other out-patient rehabilitation services to address the health needs of the country’s drug dependents.

“I ask the Duterte government to match its rhetoric against tied aid with concrete policy. The deliberations of the 2017 national government budget are a good opportunity to demonstrate this. The government must stop prioritizing payments to illegitimate debts at the expense of public health,” Hontiveros said.



Special provision in 2017 budget, debt audit

Hontiveros said that she will introduce a special provision in the proposed 2017 budget to put on hold interest payments for the said questionable loans. She said that she will also push for a comprehensive audit of the country’s outstanding debts.

The Michelin Pilot Sport S5 and Pilot Sport H5 Tyres Rise Successfully to the Unique Challenge of the 2016 Tour de Corse – Rallye de France

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The toughest asphalt rally of the season lived up every bit to its promise. Once again, the Tour de Corse’s countless corners and unsettled weather provided the high number of spectators (both on the stages and in the service park at Bastia’s airport) with an exceptional show.

Some 70 percent of the competitive distance was new compared with 2015 and the event was also 20 percent longer, with a total distance of 1,170.40km including 390.92km divided into just 10 special stages. The fact that five of them exceeded 50km in length represented a particularly big challenge for the crews’ tyres.

Friday’s action took place in clear, warm conditions, but Saturday’s weather turned out to be more unsettled and rain effectively swept over SS7. Until that point, the drivers had exclusively run the hard-compound MICHELIN Pilot Spot H5, but some crews took the decision to carry two softer Pilot Sport S5s in the boot for Day 2’s afternoon loop just in case the showers proved heavy. Also available was the MICHELIN Pilot Sport FW2 (FW = Full Wet), a new tyre introduced at August’s Rallye Deutschland. It was designed for torrential rain but was not required either in Germany or Corsica.

“The 2016 du Tour de Corse-Rallye de France was the hardest asphalt rally of the year as far as tyres are concerned,” observed Jacques Morelli, the manager of Michelin’s FIA WRC programme. “Even so, the MICHELIN Pilot Sport H5 and S5 were a match for what was a very exacting challenge. The conditions were hot at times and the stages featured the island’s usual cocktail of non-stop corners and abrasive roads. The longer stages were particularly difficult but the wear-rates we noted on our partners’ cars confirmed the value and relevance of the work carried out on our asphalt range by Michelin Motorsport’s engineers. Our tyres delivered racing-style performance and allowed the crews to push at the pace they wanted to without having to be concerned about their strength or durability.”