Dagdag na pondo sa info tech ng RP isinusulong

PINOY ang susunod na magiging Bill Gates.

Ito ang sinabi kahapon ni Senadora Loren Legarda matapos ihayag na malaking tulong para sa IT industry ang isinusulong niyang P1 billion IT Venture fund sa taong 2008.

Ayon kay Legarda, isinumite niya ang Senate Bill 2418 para lalo pang maging “competitive” ang mga Pinoy sa larangan ng information technology sa buong mundo.

Nangangailangan aniya ito ng malaking puhunan na siyang dapat ibigay ng isinusulong niyang IT ventures fund.

“Some of the best software developers and computer engineers in the world today are Filipinos. However, many have been lured abroad by high-paying jobs, thus depriving the country of honest-to-goodness opportunities to really make it big in the IT world,” ani Legarda.

Sinabi ng senadora na sa halip aniyang manatiling empleyado na lamang sa isang IT company ang mga kababayang Pinoy sa labas ng bansa, mas maganda umano kung sila ang ang magiging boss sa pamama-gitan ng pag-develop ng mga proyektong ganito.

Tulong lamang aniya ng pamahalaan ang kailangan upang higit na makita ang galing ng Pinoy sa larangan ng pag-imbento o pagpapaunlad pa sa negosyo na may kinalaman sa teknolohiya tulad ng computer industry. Marlon Purificacion - Journal online

Senate bill seeks to introduce ‘robotics’ in high school

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net


MANILA, Philippines -- As young Filipinos continue to reap honors in robotics around the world, Senate President Manuel Villar has filed Senate Bill 1579 seeking to introduce robotics into the high school curriculum.

The bill also provides for the appropriation of P100 million to support the incorporation of the subject in physics and other science subjects. The money is for designing the course, teacher training, and development of tools and instructional materials.

“The Philippines has been silently reaping laurels in science and technology,” the Senate president said.

He cited Kim Marco Perez, Dann Joseph Garcia, and Francisco Gabriel Nuñez of the First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities who bagged the gold medal in the Open Category of the World Robotics Olympiad in Nanning, China last year.

Villar also praised the Filipino students who won in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair last year.

In the explanatory note on the bill, he underscored the important role of science and technology in attaining progress.

“Science and technology has undeniably become one of the most significant tools in economic growth and a defining source of competitive advantage,” he said.

“Robots shall be utilized as technology tools that will allow students to perform experimental applications in designing, building and testing gadgets for instructional purposes,” according to the proposed measure.

Under the bill, the Philippine Science High School and other selected high schools under the Department of Education shall be the first to be introduced to the implementation of robotics application.

Bill imposes heavy penalties on identity thieves

By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. - Inquirer

MANILA--The Senate is moving to crack down on identity thieves by imposing harsher penalties against violators, and pressing banks, credit card firms and government institutions to be more stringent in protecting the privacy of their data bases.

Sen. Loren Legarda has filed Senate Bill 1371 bill which seeks to penalize the rapidly emerging crime of identity theft where an individual’s personal information is stolen and used without his or her knowledge to commit fraud.

Legarda’s bill aims to compel firms that handle a great deal of restricted personal information, such as banks and credit card issuers, to build in more adequate precautions to parry identity thieves.

"Based on the zones of privacy established by the Bill of Rights, every person clearly enjoys the right to be let alone, or the right to determine what, how much, to whom and when information about himself/herself may be disclosed," Legarda stressed.

"Congress must now safeguard the right to privacy, which has become vulnerable to invasion and manipulation by corrupt individuals and entities that take advantage of new technology, including the spread of electronic databases," she said.

The bill has classified as "sensitive personal information" an individual's first name and surname in combination with other details, such as those that relate to, but not limited to, an individual's financial account, credit standing, health condition, and family tree.

The most common kinds of identity theft are diversion of pension checks; getting credit from card issuers; and making false insurance claims.

Under Legarda's bill, identity thieves would be punished with up to 10 years in prison, or a fine of as much as P500,000, or both. The same penalty would apply to persons or the officers and directors of firms that "misappropriate" sensitive personal information.

The bill does not only cover private firms, but also public institutions with large repositories of personal data, such as the Social Security System, Government Service Insurance System, the Passport Office and the Land Transportation Office.