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Facebook

Sticker Happy

FB and Baguio Politics

Filipino politicians can not duplicate the success of Barrack Obama in using Facebook and other social media in networking and fundraising.

But do not tell that to the political candidates in Baguio.

Almost all have Facebook accounts and their posts and reactions dominate the political blogosphere here.

Even the oldtimers like former Mayors Braulio Yaranon and Bernie Vergara, both running for congressman, have their own FB account with YouTube videos of them.

With 30,000 Facebook accounts originating in the city, FB has become a virtual battleground for the candidates. Only ten of the 78 candidates for mayor, vice-mayor congressman and councilors do not have an FB account or page.

One of the unbelievers is former Mayor Ramon “Jun” Labo who said that most of the FB accounts were being managed by the politicians’ handlers.

But most disagree. Leandro Yangot, a congressional candidate said: "I have an FB account months before. I believe FB campaigning is effective. Late at night after the actual campaigning, I answer my friends' queries about me and issues in Baguio. I find it very intimate," he said.

Jose Olarte, a candidate for city council, said that he was able to connect with old friends and their families not only in Baguio but all over the world. "They tell their relatives back in Baguio to vote for me," he said.

Sonia Daoas, another councilor candidate, said that Facebooking is very personal as well. “I get to talk not only to my friends here but those abroad. We get to talk about issues and political gossips as well,” she said.

Baguio-born Johanns Fernandez, now a music critic in Seattle, said that local politics would be benefiting more from online social networking. "Coordinating activities, rallies, fund raisers, etc would be an effective way to activate grass-roots supporters. If it's merely used as a popularity indicator, it would really mean nothing," he said.

Antonio Alan Mazo, another council candidate, even formed an FB page entitled “Usto Metten (Enough Already)” which is criticizing over-staying politicians who has not done anything substantive to the city.

“It is efficient for classes "A", "B" and "C", apo. it's a good venue to know more of people's personality and even epistemology,” said Mazo.

Baguio, however, is very Internet friendly. Even Burnham Park is a free wifi zone. Many of the malls, hotels and shops offer free wifi.

Even local journalists are finding FB a good way to practice civic journalism. Pigeon Lobien started an FB page regarding the council's move to let Korean developers take over the Baguio Athletic Bowl.

"The response was overwhelming. I now have more than 10,000 fans. A similar FB page has 5,000. In a week, the mayor called for a review of the move," Lobien said. 

Even other politicians in other parts of the Cordillera are taking another look at Facebook. Congressional candidate Tom Killip in Mountain Province has three FB accounts for his campaign, most run by his friends abroad. Joy Bernos, a congressional candidate in Abra, is using FB to talk about harassment incidents to her campaign. "Technology is always a good thing, including the improvement of the conduct of elections," said Killip.

But the Obama FB phenomenon can not be duplicated even with the flurry. Joel Aliping, who now stays in the United States, said that unlike here, most people in the US have credit card, which was crucial in Obama's fundraising through the Internet.
In Baguio, FB is just one way of virtual handshaking.

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Italian Cars

If you’re a speed freak, you always wish for an Italian car. All those cars ending in vowels other than Honda and Toyota: Alfa Romeo,  Bugatti, De Tomaso,  Ferrari,  Lamborghini, Lancia, Lombardi, Maserati, and Pagani, among others.  Well, Italy is known for high fashion so it would not be surprising that they would also produce stylish cars but with enough horsepower to take your breath away. After playing racing games on my computer, I often wander on car sites and one of my favorites is Garage del Parco. Don’t worry if your command of Italian is not at par with Stallone, there are ways to translate that. Garage del Parco is a real garage not only a virtual one.  

As they said: Sell and buy car: http://www.garagedelparco.com has been in business since 1978 with experience and professionalism, always attentive to the needs and customer satisfaction. Efficiency, competence and thoroughness are our trump cards to continue to offer service and assistance, safe, guaranteed and worthy of trust. The website is in Italian if you can't read Italian here's the translated version - http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.garagedelparco.com&sl=it&tl=en

The garage (the real one) was built by Aldo Antonini in the 1960s in Via Varanini 21 and son , Alexander, moved it in 1978 to Valparaiso and to the cyberspace. Their business is vendita auto usate (sell used cars) the way Aldo did it, with ETC (efficiency, competence and thoroughness).  They also compro auto usate (buy used cars)  with the same formula. 

Not only are they selling and buying Italian cars, but other cars (mostly European) for that matter. Just on the front page, I spotted Porsche Cayenne for € 27,000, Audi, Volkswagen, BMW and Minicooper. You can even find auto usate milano in the site.

There's nothing to it. Just follow the instructions for buying, selling and getting warranty in the site. Just prepare your euros, look at the site and you'd be gone in 60 seconds. 

Writing on the Wall