Smart Wireless Center sa Zamboanga, binatikos!

Ang Xpad laptop na inaalok ng Smart Communication sa lahat ng subscribers ng Gold Plan 1800.

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Agosto 18, 2010) – Dumarami na umano ang nagre-reklamo laban sa Smart Communication dahil sa kapalpakan ng mga promo nito.

Isang subscriber ang lumapit sa Mindanao Examiner upang idulog ang umano’y palpak na promo nito sa mga may “retention” plan. Matagal na umanong naipangako ng Smart Communication ang isang Xpad laptop nito kapalit sa patuloy na subscription sa Smart Gold Plan 1800 ng nasabing kumpanya.

Inabot na ng tatlong buwan ay hindi pa rin naibibigay ang kanyang order ng Xpad laptop at madalas na idahilan ng Smart Wireless Center sa Zamboanga City na walang stock na dumarating.

Ngunit nabatid umano na may mga Xpads na ibinibigay ang mga Smart Wireless centers sa ibat-ibang bahagi ng Metro-Manila. “Wala talaga at mahina ang customer service ng Smart at dapat bigyan ito ng atensyon ng pamunuan ng Smart Communication sa Maynila dahil mistulang inutil ang mga nasa Zamboanga,” sabi nito.

Sa katunayan umano ay nagpalusot pa ang isang customer representative ng Smart Wireless Center sa Zamboanga at sinabing natapos na ang promo ng Xpad at bagong cell phone na lamang ang kunin kapalit ng Plan 1800 nito. Ngunit nagulat na lang ang subscriber ng magtanong ito sa Customer Service Hotline at nabatid na patuloy pa rin ang promo sa Xpad.

Hindi naman agad mabatid kung ilang mga subscribers ang may katulad na problema sa Zamboanga. Hindi naman agad matawagan ang Smart Wireless center dahil sa hirap na mapasok ang linya ng mga telepono nito at kahit isang araw mag-dial sa kanilang mga numero ay walang sasagot.

Dahil dismayado ay nagpasya ang nasabing subscriber na kumuha ng “unlimited call, unlimited text” offer ng Globe Telecom sa Zamboanga City sa halagang P599 lamang at may libreng cell phone pa. Nakuha ito isang oras lamang matapos na mag-apply. (Mindanao Examiner)

Davao City wins franchise tax case versus Smart Communications

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The city government of Davao represented by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte won its case recently against Smart Communications, Incorporated involving the franchise tax the city had imposed on the telecommunication company, the Philippine News Agency reported Saturday.

The Supreme Court’s 3rd Division has affirmed lower court’s decision denying Smart’s petition asking the court to stop the city government from collecting franchise tax on them since they had already paid taxes to the national government.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura, the High Court favored the city government in imposing local franchise taxes on Smart as it dismissed the Smart’s declaratory relief case.

Smart first questioned the imposition of local franchise taxes by the city government before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) which on July 19, 1992 rendered a decision against the company.
Based on the tax code of Davao, the city imposed a tax on businesses enjoying franchise at a rate of 75 percent of one percent of the gross annual receipts for the preceding calendar year based on the income or receipts realized within the territorial jurisdiction of Davao City.

But Smart argued that its telecenter in the city is exempt from the payment of franchise tax to the city, since the company was exempted from paying such tax pursuant to their legislative franchise.

Smart further contended that Section 137 of RA 7260 or the Local Government Code which the city insisted can only apply to exemptions already existing at the time of its effectivity and not to future exemptions; and the power of the city to impose a franchise tax is subject to statutory limitations such as the “in lieu of all taxes” clause in section 9 of RA 7294, the Smart’s franchise; and the imposition of the franchise tax by the city would amount to a violation of the constitutional provision against impairment of contracts.

But the city government invoked its power granted by the Constitution to local government units to create their own sources of revenue.

Assessing the evidence on record, the lower court ruled against Smart citing the ambiguity of the phrase “in lieu of all taxes” on Smart’s congressional franchise RA 7294.

Citing an earlier SC ruling, the RTC said that tax exemptions are construed in strictissimi juris against the taxpayer and liberally in favor of the taxing authority and, thus, those who assert a tax exemption must justify it with words too plain to be mistaken and too categorical not to be misinterpreted.

The RTC further declared that the city’s power to tax is based not merely on a valid delegation of legislative power but on the direct authority granted to it by the fundamental law.
Aggrieved by the RTC decision, Smart filed a motion for reconsideration but was denied by the trial court on September 26, 2002, thus, Smart elevated the issue to SC since it was a question of law.

But in a decision promulgated on September 16, 2008, the High Court upheld the lower court’s decision.

The SC also said the Smart’s franchise “does not expressly provide what kind of taxes Smart is exempted from. “In is not clear whether the ‘in liue of all taxes’ provision in the franchise of Smart would include exemption from local or national taxation,” the SC said.

“What is clear is that Smart shall pay franchise tax equivalent to three percent of all gross receipts of the businesses transacted under its franchise,” the SC added.

The High Court added that Smart failed to show proof that Congress intended exempt the company from all kinds of franchise taxes except from the three percent stated in its franchise.

“The uncertainty in the ‘in lieu if all taxes” clause in RA 7294 on whether Smart is exempted from both local and national franchise tax must be construed strictly against Smart which claims exemption. Smart has the burden of proving that…. However, Smart failed in this regard,” the SC ruled.

Although the SC decision favored the Davao City, the High Court the city should also based its franchise tax to the local government code which states that the local franchise tax must not exceed 50 percent of 1 percent of the gross annual receipts for the preceding calendar year based on the income on receipt.

SMART's 4th SWEEP Awards Kicks Off With Online Quiz

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 12, 2007) - This early, the 4th Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP) Innovation and Excellence Awards promises to be exciting and fun.
Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) is building up anticipation for its annual awards program by staging a series of Roadshow Online Quizzes in three legs nationwide.

The SWEEP Awards Roadshow Online Quiz gathered on Monday 21 partner schools in Luzon at the Bulacan State University and nine more partner schools in the Visayas at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City on Thursday 13 and eight other partner schools in Mindanao at the Holy Cross College Foundation in Davao City on December 17, it said.

“Friendly competition is expected during the Roadshow Online Quiz as students and faculty cheer for their respective student contestants, who will go through three rounds of basic engineering questions. The one who gets the highest number of points will be awarded with a medal and a mobile phone,” SMART said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

It said the online quiz is patterned after a Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company system that powers the PLDT Broadband Quiz, an ongoing initiative under PLDT’s InfoTeach Outreach Program. Other sponsors include onelogic, Netopia and SmartBro.

Those attending the event will get a chance to win premium items as well as to participate in a job fair that promises employment opportunities in Customer Interfacing, Sales, Information Technology (IT) and Engineering in the PLDT Group.

Graduating students are advised to bring and submit their resume to the SMART recruitment booth set up at the venue.

The online quiz is a forerunner to the activities that will be held during the 4th SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards next year, particularly “PalaECEpan”, the quiz competition among participating partner schools. The contestant who wins the grand prize will receive P40,000 in cash, a trophy and a cellular phone.

Winners in the semifinals will each get a trophy, a cellular phone and certificate of participation.

SMART is staging the fourth run of its nationwide search for the most innovative wireless applications designed by student-faculty teams under SWEEP with the theme “Going Wireless for Disaster Preparedness” on February 1-2, 2008 at the SM City Cebu.

The awards program requires teams of students, mentored by a faculty member to develop wireless applications that will benefit their institution and or the communities that they serve. These applications must be accessed via the SMART network using any or all of the following technologies: SMS, WAP, GPRS, voice, WiFi and Bluetooth.

At stake are cash prizes for the winning teams and equivalent grants for their schools. First prize winner will get P500,000 while second and third prize winners will get P300,000 and PhP150,000 respectively.

The SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards is an off-shoot of SWEEP, which started out as an industry-academe partnership that seeks to help raise the level of technology and engineering education, particularly in the field of Electronic and Communications Engineering.

The program has two components – the installation of a Smart Wireless Laboratory with different mobile communications equipment as well as a continuing education component on wireless technologies that include lectures by SMART engineers and industry experts, on-the-job training for students, faculty immersion program, among others.

To date, SWEEP has evolved into a platform from which SMART has developed other partnerships with SWEEP schools in academic fields such as IT education and in community service programs such as Gawad Kalinga, disaster preparedness and training assistance to public schools through the Smart Schools Program.

Since its launch in March 2003, the program now covers 40 schools nationwide, making it the largest tie-up between the academe and a wireless services provider.

Smart Bro, Inireklamo!

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 03 Jun) – Posibleng malagay sa iskandalo ang Smart Communications dahil sa pagbebenta nito ng mga personal computers na may tatak na Intel Pentium 4 processor sa kabila ng Celeron lamang ang gamit nito sa mga PC sa ilalim ng Smart Bro internet.

Inireklamo ang naturang PC dahil sa sobrang bagal nito. Kahit ikabit pa umano sa broadband o DSL connection ng PLDT at ibang Internet server ay wala rin epekto.

Unang inalok ng Smart Bro sa mga kliyente ay pawang mga IBM computers, subalit sa dakong huli ay tila “generic” na ang mga piyesa ng kanilang PC na ang pangalan ay “VIPER” at Samsung naman ang monitor.

Patuloy rin umanong isinasatabi ng mga customer service representatives nito ang maraming reklamo ukol sa nasabing mga computers.

Hindi naman mabatid kung alam ng Intel o kung may pahintulot ang Smart at ang supplier nito ng mga VIPER computers na gumamit ng sticker na may tatak “Intel Pentium 4” sa kanilang produkto kahit na Celeron ang processor ng mga ito.

Maging ang karton ng CPU ay may tatak rin P4 na sa uang tingin ay mapagkakamalang Pentium 4, subali’t “Made In China” naman ang nakatatak ditto.

Idudulog umano sa Department of Trade and Industry ang nasabing reklamo.

Ibinibenta ng Smart ang VIPER computer nito kasama ang Internet commection bilang package sa halagang halos P21,000 sa loob ng isang taon. (Mindanao Examiner)

Cellular Phone Giant, Smart Communications, Helps Gawad Kalinga Build Sustainable Communities

A Gawad Kalinga Village volunteer teacher, Kat Hakim, smiles as she welcomes visitors; behind her a row of houses donated by Smart Communications Inc., in the former Moro rebel base, now a sprawling Muslim community in Barira town in Maguindanao province. (Mindanao Examiner)

MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / 22 Oct) – For the country's leading cellular carrier, contributing to Gawad Kalinga's much-awarded community-building program is not just about building homes.

Smart Communications, Inc. (Smart) is also engaged in helping develop innovative entrepreneurial projects and disaster preparedness programs for its beneficiaries.

More than two years since it pledged to build its first Gawad Kalinga (GK) village for fire victims of Baseco Compound in Tondo district in Manila, the cellular giant, together with parent firm, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), has committed to build at least 7 GK Amazing Villages for homeless families displaced by various calamities.

At 100 per village, Smart committed to construct 700 new houses. "As we build these communities, we are also adding livelihood and disaster preparedness projects. These elements are needed to help make these communities sustainable," said Ramon R. Isberto, Public Affairs Group head of SMART, at a recent forum in Manila.

Called "Rising from Disaster... Beyond Relief,” the forum was held during the three-day Gawad Kalinga Global Expo 2006 at SM Mall of Asia in Manila. The forum was one of many activities that were part of the themed “The Power of We,” to mark Gawad Kalinga (GK) Foundation's GK 777 3rd year anniversary.

Through GK 777, the Couples for Christ-based foundation aims to provide 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in seven years or by 2010.

Smart and PLDT have completed two villages - in Baseco Compound and in the former Moro rebel base Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao province, now a sprawling community of hundreds of Muslim families, mostly members of the Iranun tribe who lost their homes during the armed conflict several years ago.

Four villages are also expected to be completed by next year, in General Nakar in Quezon province or victims of floods and landslides; Cebu City for informal settlers; Iloilo City for families of street children; and Fort Magsaysay in Laur town in Nueva Ecija, for families of members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

PLDT, Smart, GK and the local government are preparing for the seventh village in Southern Leyte in central Philippines and will benefit mostly survivors of landslide that buried the village of Guinsaugon in February.

"This year, we are consolidating our seven GK villages and are focusing on livelihood and disaster preparedness to make sure that people will be safe and secure," said Isberto.

The Smart Amazing GK Village in the village of Banglos in General Nakar, Quezon showcases Smart's evolving approach to community building. Aside from providing the funds to build 100 houses for flood and mudslide victims, Smart has deployed more than 600 employees who volunteered to help in the actual construction of houses.

Smart has also helped the Banglos residents develop an innovative livelihood project by turning the old logs washed down by the floods into wood sculpture. Some 40 Banglos residents, who are mostly farmers and fishermen, learned the art of wood sculpting from renowned sculptor Rey Paz Contreras.

"While they go on with their livelihood, now, they're also artists in their own right," said Darwin Flores, Smart's senior manager for Community Partnerships. The company also engaged the environmental group Haribon Foundation to assist Banglos residents in replanting 20,000 wildlings in the surrounding areas, Isberto added.

Following the recommendation of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR, endemic species or plants that are native to General Nakar, have been planted.

Smart has also set up an emergency communications system in the towns of Real, Infanta and General Nakar in Quezon under the Reina project of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

It donated “batingaws” or warning bells made from recycled oxygen tanks to warn residents should there be a need for mass evacuation from flashfloods or other calamities. When disaster strikes, emergency teams warn villages and then the local officials use the batingaw to assemble the residents.

"The response of national and regional authorities during calamities is not enough," said Isberto. "Communities also need to know what to do. So, community-based disaster programs are essential," he said. (Mindanao Examiner)