Ryou's Thoughts of October

Hi guys!  I'm back and reviving this blog of mine.  I know I'm not a frequent poster but as of right now, I'm doing my best to keep active as a blogger.  I'm still a casual gamer, although I've started a new business of my own in the food industry.  With that said, my first topic of this post would be, Warframe.  Some of you are probably familiar with the game but for those who doesn't, it's a 3rd person shooter futuristic game where you just shoot enemies trying to take over and stuff like that.

If you want more feedback on the game, I'll be posting a dedicated summary of my first hours of the game as well as how I started from Update 9.0 til 10.2.   So far, I'm still enjoying it and the game devs Digital Extreme are doing their best to keep their players satisfied.  I mean, who would make livestream and updates on a regular basis?  Let alone the pretty ladies such as Rebecca and Megan seen playing the game itself.  The guys are also awesome, from the art department to the people who make the game happen, kudos to all of you.  Hope Warframe will last as long as I want it to be but hopefully it will, say 10 years?
If you guys want to start playing and see the game for yourself, first create account and then download the game, which is quite small in size compared to other games with excellent graphics.

Second on the top of my head is Octoberfest!!  Beer and celebration at the middle of the month and hopefully I don't drink too much this year.  Well, too much is already bad for you in any aspect but beer is actually healthy when you drink moderately.  In terms of moderately, I mean like 2 or 3 mugs.  I still have to set a schedule with my friends on where we'd go drinking and have fun.

Thirdly, Magic the Gathering.  I know in late Sept, Theros block was released.  I missed the opportunity to join the prerelease but I'm hoping it's not too late to jump into the fray to battle other duelists in my area.  Hopefully I'll be visiting some stores along Ortigas and Manila so if I do meet some of you, don't be scared to approach me and say hi.  :)

I guess that's all for now, I do hope I can get my blogging days back.  But with the busy schedule ahead of me, I guess I can squeeze a few minutes so that I could relive my writing dream. Til the next post, cheerio!

Update on Home Reconstruction

It's been almost a month since the time our house went bye-bye.  In this I mean, totally removed from the land, demolished into chunks of debris that were taken away to an unknown place where it would be used up or dumped.  I don't really know what they do with all those materials but that's one less worry for me since the new house is looking great.

What really impressed me is that they worked professionally and fast, with the weather cooperating with the construction, I guess this was the right time for this.  I mean, there was a typhoon that was said to have hit the country but there were just a sprinkle of rain here and there but not like Typhoon Bashang or other previous devastating typhoons that hit the country.

If the progress of the house continues this way, I do hope it does, I could probably move back by the end of September.  That's almost a month away with days to count.  I can't wait to paint my room crimson red or even light blue with matching carpet.  Well, on second thought, probably throw out the carpet idea and just settle in for linoleum tiles or flooring.  I can't wait for that time so that I can have my trusty and reliable internet connection as well as watching movies on the cable TV.

Back to Basics

I have forgotten how many years it has been for me since I've seen a code for a program before, but now I'm going to embark on a new journey that I've traveled thru before.  I'm going back to college!!  I guess I'll go take up basic coding again, then advanced programming languages along the way.  If the opportunity presents itself, I'll probably become a teacher too!  Imagine that, I never have thought of becoming a professor teaching a computer language.

With due time, everything will take place and I'll be restarting my career path as a programmer and not a professional bum... err blogger. :)

The Comeback

No, not the series, The Comeback. Yes, it's time for my comeback.

I've been away from this blog for quite some time now. Probably no time to update or share to you guys about my recent life on gaming and stuff and now I've got some time to spare before I do another extensive training towards a career.

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Cheaper Medicines Bill Petition

I was browsing through blogs, since Valhalla Prontera is down along with my characters stuck there, and I noticed an interesting piece from waukster.com. I took a brief look and then re-read the whole thing again and I thought, this is a good petition so that people would not be scared in spending money on medicine to keep healthy.

Yeah, medicine bought in the Philippines are somewhat expensive when it comes to people who are forced to buy them when their doctors give them prescription to cure their ailments. If it's cheaper in other countries, then what factors would cause the expensive price hike when it comes here in the Philippines? Here's what the petition says:

To: Philippine Congress
Online Petition in Support of the Affordable Medicines Act

Cut the costs of medicines. Pass the Affordable Medicines Act Now!

Petition: We urge Congress to immediately pass the Affordable Medicines Act principally authored by Senator Mar Roxas.

Status: Senate and House are working on consolidated version which hopefully can be signed into law on or before Labor Day (Thursday, May 1, 2008).

What the measure seeks to do:

1. Amend the Intellectual Property Code to allow parallel importation of affordable medicines from abroad, and to help generics firms to develop quality and affordable generic medicines.

2. Allow the President, upon recommendation of the Secretary of Health, to impose drug price ceilings in times of calamity, public health emergencies, events that cause artificial and unreasonable price hikes in medicines, the prevalence of illegal price manipulation and whenever prices of essential drugs have risen to unreasonable levels.

3. Strengthen the Bureau of Food and Drug Administration (BFAD) by allowing it to retain its operating income or earnings for modernization, training and equipment upgrades and expansion of human resources.

Differences between the Senate and House Versions:

1. Title – The Senate version is known as the Quality Affordable Medicines Act. The House version is known as the Cheaper Medicines Act.

2. Price Regulation:

o The Senate subscribes to the idea of price regulation on medicines but only through the Office of the President based on the recommendation of the Secretary of Health. This streamlines the process of price regulation and makes it more accountable and transparent to the people.
o The House version seeks to establish a drug price regulatory board composed of different stakeholders that will have the power to set the prices of medicines – higher or lower – based on their analysis of the situation.
3. On the generics-only provision, both chambers have agreed to work on this as a separate bill to fast-track the passage of amendments to the Intellectual Property Code.

Will the passage of this bill bring down the costs of medicines in the country? Senator Mar Roxas said: “All the tools to help the executive bring in quality affordable medicines and promote better competition in the pharmaceutical and retail industry are in this measure. This is why I am reiterating my call for its immediate passage.”

Why not a Drug Price Regulatory Board rather than relying on the Secretary of Health to regulate the price of drugs? “I want accountability to be placed in one person – the Secretary of Health, who will thus forward his recommendations to the President. To place the power of price regulation under a nameless, faceless board would serve only to diffuse accountability and perpetuate finger-pointing at the expense of the public.” (Sen. Mar Roxas, February 8, 2008)

Next steps after the bill is passed? “I call on the DoH to start working on a concrete plan on how to use parallel importation and price regulation to bring down the cost of medicines in the country. Once this plan is completed, it must be presented before stakeholders and the general public at an Affordable Medicines Summit to ensure the cooperation of all in the effective implementation of this landmark law.” (Sen. Mar Roxas, April 11, 2008 interview at the Senate)

Examples of Price Differentials of Drugs in RP and Other Countries:

a. Norvasc, a maintenance drug for hypertension, is priced at P44.75 in the Philippines yet sells for the equivalent of P5.00 in India.
b. Bactrim 400, a drug to treat respiratory tract infection, is priced at P17.75 per tablet in the Philippines yet sells for the equivalent of P1.00 in Pakistan and 69 centavos in India.
c. Ventolin inhaler for asthmatic children is priced at P406 per inhaler in the Philippines yet sells for P231 per inhaler in Bangkok, Thailand.

The passage of the Affordable Medicines Act will enable both the government and the private sector to bring in these quality affordable medicines so that Filipinos will have the same access to cheaper drugs as the Indians, Pakistanis, Thais, and other nationalities. By bringing in these more affordable drugs, competition in the local market will be enhanced thus compelling our own pharmaceutical industry to lower their prices. The same thing happened when the monopoly of the PLDT was broken because of the entry of Globe Telecoms, Bayantel, and Sun Cellular. Or when PAL was forced to improve its services and be on time because of Cebu Pacific and other budget airlines.

As Senator Roxas explained: “My colleagues and I already agree in principle on two items: first, we want to promote the local generics industry and loosen monopolistic and oligapolistic controls in the pharmaceutical industry, and second, that price regulation is an option that ought to be at the government’s disposal.”

If you think this petition would benefit the entire country, then head on and sign the petition at Petition.