BEHIND THE SCENES

Halsema ‘lies’ / Smart project for OFWs
ALFRED P. DIZON

Below is a letter of Sabangan resident Juniper Dominguez reacting to a story last week on the controversial and multi-million peso Mt. Data-Bontoc road projects which was ordered investigated by Highways Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane:

“This respectfully concerns the news story by Dexter A. See page 12, Feb. 3-9 issue published in the Northern Philippine Times entitled “Controversial million-peso contracts, Halsema road contractors complete defective Mt. Data-Bontoc works."

"It is indeed so ironic that DPWH-Cordillera Administrative Region director looks at the people of the Mountain Province as so dumb to believe his perennially stated lies that the repair/corrective measures of the defective works in the SONA Halsema projects in Mountain Province is already completed?

Mountain Province people are not blind or that dumb not to see what is happening. Most of your engineers are from Mountain Province and they have stakes on the quality of the projects. Everybody knows, the drivers, commuters that the contractors are using dirty, muddy, unscreened aggregates especially in the concreting along Alab, Amlusong, Sabangan, Cabogbogan and Maba-ay sections. All slope protection walls and all ripraps had only the face plastered with cement to make it look like it was grouted riprap.

We can also prove beyond reasonable doubt that there is no truth to the claims of Director Alquiza that the “remove and replace (order of Sec. Ebdane to replace defective sections) has been completed. Let’s see how Mountain Province constituents will testify in the proper forum.” I hope this letter will merit print in your widely read paper.”
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This paper got another e-mail this time from Smart Communications on a project which they said would improve monetary remittances of Overseas Filipino Workers: Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) and the Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) have forged an agreement to jointly develop and pilot a Mobile Money Transfer service in the country that will make low-denomination, high-frequency remittances more affordable to the country’s more than 8 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs).

“This agreement is in line with SMART’s thrust to continuously develop low-cost and convenient mobile remittance channels and communications services for overseas Filipino workers,” said Napoleon Nazareno, SMART president and CEO. “We recognize the significant role they play in not only contributing to the country’s economy, but also in making sure their families’ financial and communications needs are met at the time they need them.”

SMART, which ended 2007 with more than 30 million subscribers, already has an established mobile financial service platform linking local bank accounts to mobile handsets, providing significant convenience for banked consumers. At the end of 2007, more than 7 million SMART subscribers were in the Smart Money system, close to 2 million of whom are cardholders. The company has agreements with five Philippine commercial banks and links to over 7,000 ATMs nationwide, more than 100 Smart Wireless Centers and thousands of third-party Smart Money fulfillment partners.

Western Union, together with its affiliates Orlandi Valuta and Vigo , maintains the industry’s largest global Agent network of more than 320,000 locations in over 200 countries and territories. “In the Philippines, approximately 44 percent of households have a relative or family member working abroad,” said Patricia Riingen, Western Union Vice President, Philippines . “We believe pairing Western Union’s global reach with SMART’s active subscriber base and access to Philippine bank networks will increase the ease and flexibility associated with moving money back home to friends and family.”
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According to The World Bank, the number of immigrants globally is about 200 million – approximately 3 percent of the world’s population. The Philippines is the fourth-largest receiver of remittances in the world; according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) sent more than $13 billion USD home in the first 11 months of 2007, a 14% increase over the same period last year.

Once the Western Union mobile money transfer service has launched – expected in the second quarter of 2008 – the service will connect operators to Western Union ’s existing global money transfer system, which processed approximately 17 percent of the world’s cross-border remittance volume in 2006. When connected to the Western Union service, operators will be able to use their own “mobile wallet” software to enable person-to-person mobile money transfers over Western Union ’s cross-border remittance network. The Mobile Money Transfer service will enable consumers to transfer money to or from mobile wallets and will offer a global network of Western Union Agent locations for cash-to-mobile and mobile-to-cash transactions.

The agreement with SMART is part of the pilot program of Western Union and the GSM Association (GSMA), an international trade association representing over 700 GSM mobile phone operators, to facilitate the development of cross-border mobile money transfer services.

“The GSMA's MMT programme was launched with the aim of tapping the ubiquity and ease-of-use of mobile communications to enable the world's 200 million international migrant workers to easily and securely send remittances to their dependents, many of whom don't have bank accounts,” said Ben Soppitt, director of the GSMA’s MMT programme.

“By exploiting the extensive reach of the mobile networks, the program will complement existing local remittances channels and make transferring money internationally significantly more affordable,” Soppitt added.

Mobile networks now cover more than 80 percent of the world’s population, and 3 billion people have a mobile phone, creating an unprecedented opportunity to extend the benefits of financial services to the majority of the world’s families for the first time.

Smart Communications, Inc. is the Philippines ' leading wireless services provider with over 30 million subscribers on its GSM network as of December 2007. Of its total subscriber base, over 20 million subscribers are served under the brands Smart Buddy, Smart Gold and Smart Infinity. In addition, over 9 million subscribers are served through its subsidiary, Pilipino Telephone Corp., under the brand Talk 'N Text.

SMART has built a reputation for innovation, having introduced world-first wireless data services, including mobile commerce services such as Smart Money, Smart Load and Smart Padala. SMART also offers a 3G service, Smart 3G. SMART’s subsidiary, Smart Broadband, Inc. offers the revolutionary high-speed wireless broadband Internet service, Smart Bro. SMART is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Philippines ' leading telecommunications carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company. For more information, visit www.smart.com.ph.

The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global money-transfer services. Together with its affiliates, Orlandi Valuta and Vigo , Western Union provides consumers with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. It operates through a network of more than 320,000 Agent locations in over 200 countries and territories. Famous for its pioneering telegraph services, the original Western Union dates back to 1851.

For more information, visit www.westernunion.com. For more information about the GSMA’s MMT programme, please see www.gsmworld.com/mmt