Now that we're enjoying a BAYANI-sticker-free EDSA it may be a good time to focus on the good things for a change. The photo you see here is of the cabbie who drove me home a couple of weeks ago, just after one of the smaller gasoline companies announced a rollback, in defiance of the big players who stayed put on the higher prices.

He holds in his hand a privilege card that the gas station gives out for free to cab drivers who become frequent customers. In exchange for reaching a set amount on their gas receipts they earn points which they can exchange for fuel or gift items. It works pretty much like the frequent customer card programs of other commercial establishments such as supermarkets and bookstores.

I asked the driver if he knew of other gasoline stations that offered similar programs and he said almost all of the others have one program or another, except the biggest one, Shell.

It's the little things that make life bearable for some. We know that the freebies are nothing compared to what these business establishments are earning, but at least we get something back. Kahit konting pa-konswelo, nakakatuwa parin kahit paano.

‘Bayani’ stickers now on tricycles, provincial buses

MANILA, Philippines – Despite getting much flak from private citizens across the metropolis, “BAYANI" stickers can now be found plastered on areas far from Metro Manila's major thoroughfares.

Radio dzBB reported that the stickers were spotted on tricycles in the cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, and Valenzuela and on windshields of buses with provincial routes.

Earlier, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando expressed his ambitions to run in the 2010 elections intent on becoming the next “no-nonsense president of the country"

The MMDA chairman admitted that the stickers were from his private fund and that he wanted to "introduce" himself to the public. He added that the “BAYANI" stickers are an articulation of his belief that the country needs “bayani" or a hero.

The MMDA, however, disowned the stickers and said that these were Fernando’s private efforts.

Only those posters and tarpaulins which indicate government property" or "printed by MMDA" are funded by the agency. - Sophi Dedace, GMANews.TV

BF: eh yun ngang patay na eh me lapida pa sa nicho...

Ang panawagan ko ke BF: magpakamatay ka nalang kaya para me karapatan ka na ring maglagay ng lapida sa nicho mo.

Pero habang buhay ka at nananatiling baliw sa paniniwalang magiging presidente ka ng Pilipinas, keep your effing name and your effed up face out of our sight.

from: +639098620859

D’AUDITORS Of PHIL. CHARITY FOUNDATION Nform u dat ur Celfon No# Php 950,000.00 2nd Prize Winner draw last 08/31/08 Pls Call Me Now I’m Atty. RUTH F. VALDEZ

This particular text message scam is covered quite extensively in Gariell's Weblog where there are already more than a hundred and fifty comments.

Apparently, mobile numbers that begin with 909 are premium numbers which when called will be at great cost to the caller. And when an unsuspecting victim calls he will be asked to divulge personal as well as banking information which will then be used by the perpetrators to swindle the victims.

I left the message above as a comment on Gariell's blog and decided to take the matter further by going to the website of the National Telecommunications Commission (http://www.ntc.gov.ph) and leaving news of the scam on their message board.

To my pleasant surprise, when I got home from work in the evening, I found a reply to my message from the One Stop Public Assistance Center (ospac@ntc.gov.ph):

good pm,

we thank you for sending us email with regards to your concern about an
alleged text scam, rest assured that we will act on your complaint
accordingly, provided that you include your fullname, address and contact
number. once we receive the said infos, we will block the said number(s).

God bless and have a nice day.

vic g.

I did what the email said, gave them my contact details and repeated the scam text message and the number where it came from. I leave the rest in their capable hands. Apparently the NTC has been working against text scammers such as these as early as 2005, even if the only thing they can do for now is block the numbers which the scammers are using.

If you have been the recipient of a text scam such as this I urge you to let the NTC know and then followup on their email.

It is sad to note that not all of the people who receive such messages are as internet-savvy as some of us are, and that some people will be taken in by these scammers. Let's do our bit and let the NTC do theirs.

The particular message that I began this post with came into my celphone three times in succession, within more or less 15 minutes of each other. I had already found the variations of this scam text message on the internet by the time the third iteration reached my celphone.

To this third message I replied: "F**k off scammer, buking na buking na kayo sa internet!!!" It made me feel better, even if I knew it wasn't going to do any good. And finding the note from the NTC in my inbox made me feel better too. It is good to know that there are some offices of the government that are actually doing their job of taking care of the people.

It is a sad, sad mind that thinks one can win the forgiveness and approval of the masses simply by handing out lurid pink t-shirts.

When a man constantly attempts to convince himself that he can be benevolent when he is actually a tyrant, when a man believes that he is gwapo (good looking) when he is actually mukhang kuwago (owlish looking), when a man orders the violation of human rights of hundreds upon hundreds of people who are merely trying to make a living and believes he is blameless and in fact a do-gooder--then that man is delusional, plain and simple, and belongs in a straightjacket.