service include Camarines Norte with 154 access points, Masbate with 153, and Catanduanes with 26.

Exactly where these 26 free Wi-Fi hotspots in Catanduanes are and whether they are actually working, only the DICT knows.

Comparing the installation of internet access points in the six provinces of the region, it appears that our island province is getting a raw deal from DICT as far as the number of such free Wi-Fi hotspots vis-à-vis the total number of barangays is concerned.

Already classified as a seriously underserved area in the National Broadband Plan as far back as 2016, Catanduanes only has 8.25 percent of its 315 barangays with free Wi-Fi.

Overall, DICT has installed access points to 42 percent of the total 3,471 barangays in Bicol.

In contrast, the province with the second least Wi-Fi hotspots is Masbate, with 27.82 percent of its 550 barangays.

Here’s the numbers for the other four: Albay, 28.75 percent of 720 barangays; Sorsogon, 54.16% of 541 barangays; Camarines Norte, 54.6 percent of 282 barangays; and Camarines Sur, 59.74 percent of 1,063 barangays.

A check of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) statistics on Catanduanes households with internet access as of 2020 shows that of the 60,326 homes that year, 39,856 had at least one type of internet connection.

It looks pretty high at 66 percent, but when you consider the type of connection, the statistic would make the common internet user weep.

The PSA found that only 1,548 houses had either fixed or satellite broadband networks, while the other 38,308 depended on mobile broadband networks.

While the country’s biggest telecommunications company has already extended its fiber optic lines to barangays, the monthly expense of maintaining a broadband subscription is beyond the reach of many homes in a province where the poverty incidence reached 30.6 percent last year.

Clearly, DICT needs to make good on its promise and more – to quadruple the number of free Wi-Fi hotspots in Catanduanes to at least 100 sites and achieve some parity with the other Bicol provinces.

This goal must be backed by our elective officials, whose chances of winning in the polls nowadays hinge increasingly on the use of social media and the voters’ access to the internet.

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The second phase of the National Broadband Plan or NBP 2.0 is set to be rolled out this 2025, with the DICT to establish cable landing stations in Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, and Sorsogon as part of the nationwide broadband infrastructure.

This aims to build a reliable connectivity backbone through the deployment of fiber optic cables and wireless technologies as well as improve internet speed and accessibility, benefiting both government agencies and the growing network of free Wi-Fi sites in the Bicol region.

Catanduanes is not yet in the list of areas where the cable landing stations will be built although it will surely come sooner or later.

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The approval of US-based Joshua Andrew Placides’ application to study at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is not a small matter.

According to a latest report, the MIT acceptance rate is only 4.52% for the 2024 admissions, as only 1,275 among the 28,232 applications were accepted for first year admission.

The world-renowned institution for research and technology has maintained the number one position among the best global universities, that’s why many would-be scientists want to pursue higher education at MIT from where 41 Nobel Prize winners have graduated.

But the cost of earning a diploma there is prohibitive, with the tuition alone pegged at $61,990 annually or about P3.7 million.

Together with housing, food and personal expenses, a student is expected to shell out about $86,000 yearly or P5.1 million, according to the MIT Student Financial Services.

But the university has a need-based financial aid program for students and an undergraduate who qualifies for an MIT Scholarships pays on average only about $13,000 per year or P780,000.

In 2023, four Filipinos were chosen as MIT scholars, three of them graduates of science high schools: Hillary Diane Andales (Physics), Jinger Chong (Mechanical Engineering), Arthur Debelen (Chemical Engineering) and Carl Joshua Quines (Mathematics).

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DADDY’S PROMISED TRICK. “Oh, boy! I’m glad you’re here,” the little boy said to his grandmother on his mother’s side when she arrived for the New Year holidays.

“Why?” she asked.

“Because now Daddy will do the trick he’s been promising us.”

“What trick?”

“Well, he told Mommy that if you came to visit, he would climb the walls.”