free calls O0
Invention in Baguio connects with OFWs in Lebanon
By Vincent Cabreza
Inquirer
Last updated 02:27am (Mla time) 08/03/2006
Published on Page A16 of the August 3, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
BAGUIO CITY—Only three calls to Lebanon were made on Monday from a telephone service offered by a Baguio businesswoman, but the communication system she herself designed gladdened more hearts than she anticipated.
Gladys Vergara, a software development enthusiast, opened a free international call center at a corner of her gasoline station near City Hall, after realizing that the conflict between Israel and Lebanon had adverse effects on the local economy.
It’s “basic Economics 101,” she said.
A good number of residents in Baguio and Benguet rely on foreign remittances, which have helped keep consumption alive in the summer capital, Vergara said.
Domestic tourists
Most domestic tourists, she added, are either financed by their relatives abroad or by overseas Filipino workers on vacation here.
To offer free international calls, Vergara used a customized adaptor, built to her specifications, which allows free access to existing telephone networks or which enables her to digitally translate voice messages made through these telephone calls so she can send them through the Internet.
Vergara said her adaptor is being sold to select distributors in the United States but has not yet been sold in the country for fear that giant telecommunications firms will block her efforts.
“I don’t even have a name for it yet, but I have sold it simply as a Philippine-made adaptor for Voice-Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) for under $200 (P10,296),” Vergara told the Inquirer.
The VOIP allows people to send voice messages using a broadband Internet connection.
Vergara said her adaptor’s ability to connect to existing telephone networks or offer wireless Internet service has compelled a telecommunications firm to offer a P5 million buy-out deal, which she has rejected.
But she said these details have no direct consequence to Baguio residents who found a fresh way to contact relatives still trapped in Lebanon.
A woman from Barangay Aurora Hill was brought to the station by a barangay captain on Monday, after being told about the service. She said she needed to call a cousin, who is stuck in Beirut amid constant shelling from Israel.
On Tuesday, an overseas worker recently repatriated from Lebanon due to the war managed to contact her daughter, also an OFW there, who decided to stay to take care of her wards.
Could not be reached
Two women, both thirsting for news about their daughters, also took a chance.
Maura Saguid could not reach the cellular phone of her Eileen, but her neighbor, Estrella Martinez was successful.
“My daughter Remmalin is okay. She is a domestic helper like Eileen, but my daughter is based in Beirut and her employer assured me they are far from the bombings,” Martinez said.
“Before that call, I was crying. I do not know where Beirut and Southern Lebanon were, and I was always sick in my stomach whenever I saw [footage] of the missiles hitting Lebanon,” she said.
Foreigners have also taken advantage of the service. A British tourist saw the sign announcing free international calls and quickly dialed home.
“I actually opened it as a free incentive to my customers, who are mostly public utility drivers, but I realized that there was better need now when Beirut [was bombed],” Vergara said.
Ilocos Sur Vice Gov. Deogracias Victor Savellano discovered the service on Monday and ordered 50 adaptors to enable the provincial government to set up free long distance services there, she said.
Vergara said she is also donating a gadget to the city government.
PLDT eyes
But some officials of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. are keeping their eyes on this free service.
A PLDT source said the gadget may be tapping into their network, and this threatens their commercial franchise.
PLDT has started marketing its digital fiber optic project that broadens Internet access here.
“I have already received a call from PLDT alerting me to legal problems should I commercialize this gadget. I haven’t. I am offering it for free,” Vergara said.
