Page 3 - LM Confidential Issue December 2014

Mark Bautista, Rachelle Ann Go,
Critics sowing chaos prior to 2016 elections
Google
Pinoys get Christmas gift ideas from the Web
MANILA - Seventy-two percent of Filipinos get their Christmas gift ideas from the Internet, a Google survey showed.
Google suggested that business owners start raising awareness for their products as early as October, and to capitalize on customers’ last- minute spending in December.
Called “How Filipinos Shop During The Christmas Season,” the survey gathered information from 160 respondents about their spending habits in relation to the holiday season. “The holiday season is also the busiest time for shopping, hence a deeper consumer knowledge should give businesses the advantage of providing what their customers truly need and prioritize,” said Ryan Morales, Google Philippines Country Marketing Manager.
Though the bulk of Filipino shoppers (36%) start researching possible Christmas gifts in November, 4% actually begin searching in July, and 19% leave it to the last moment in December. When it comes to actual shopping, most people start during the first two weeks of December (44%), though early birds (4%) start in September. Still 4% of people put it off right until the day before Christmas.
Google said that when asked what they’re looking for in a gift, of respondents said that the most important factor is value for money (84%). This is followed by price (80%) and quality (78%). Given this, it may not be surprising that most people choose clothes and accessories as gifts (88%)
3
no time for love?
same group, our regular detractors, which is the AES Watch, to discredit and create confusion before the 2016 elections,” Brillantes said. Brillantes identified former Comelec Commissioner Augusto Lagman, a leaders of AES Watch, as masterminding the campaign to discredit the poll agency. He said Lagman had opposed the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) system when he was a poll commissioner and even after his appointment was not renewed by President Benigno Aquino 3rd.
Magdamo claimed that the Comelec was trying to cover up widespread manipulation of results in the 2013 elections. He said the poll body never revealed a report of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) that digital lines had compromised counting of the votes. Brillantes said Magdamo was misinformed and that it was actually the poll body that asked the DOST to make an assessment on the nature of the digital lines. “There was no attempt to cover up.” Brillantes said. He said the evaluation showed that the problems in the digital lines had little effect to the vote counting.
“It would not have any effect in the results of the elections,” Brillantes said.
He said the Comelec will double check the PCOS machines that will be used in 2016. “We will look at these digital lines because we will try to solve them for the 2016 elections and make sure it will not take place again,” he said.
The 80,000 PCOS machines will be randomly tested to determine what caused the digital lines to appear.
LONDON - Kapuso stars Mark Bautista and Rachelle Ann Go are both carving out a career in the London theater scene starring in separate musicals. Mark is cast in
Here Lies Love,
a rock musical about the life of former
First Lady Imelda Marcos. He plays former president Ferdinand Marcos. “Date? Paano kaya ito gawin?” He admits there are temptations, but
he keeps himself disciplined. “Ito, walang distractions dapat. Feeling ko kasi parang make or break.” he shares.
Rachelle, on the other hand, is in the West End revival of iconic musical Miss Saigon. She plays the role of Gigi Van Trahn.
Asked if she has a special
someone at the moment. “Maraming manliligaw. Eh ano’ng magagawa ko,” she says, laughing. She says starring in the play simply makes her too busy.
“Yung trabaho ko naman kasi, eight shows a week,” she says, getting serious. “Enjoy lang muna.”
She won as the Best Featured Actress in a Musical during the 2014 Broadway World West End Awards for her role as Gigi Van Tranh in the revival of “Miss Saigon”.
MANILA - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) took a swipe at its critics, accusing them of sowing confusion ahead of the 2016 presidential elections.
A former Comelec official, Melchor Magdamo, claimed that the results of the 2013 mid-term elections were electronically doctored to favor administration candidates.
Comelec Chairperson Sixto Brillantes Jr. dismissed Magdamo as a “minor” Comelec lawyer who left the poll body just before the 2010 elections.
“He [Magdamo] was already out of the Comelec by April 2010 and did not have any role in the 2013 [polls]. Yet he was making claims of knowing several things,” Brillantes said at a news conference.
He accused the Automated Election System (AES) Watch as being behind the poll fraud claims of Magdamo. “This is all just part of an orchestrated move by the
DECEMBER 2014 L. M. Confidential