Features

What is PLDT doing about its recent internet service issues?

Internal struggles lead to disgruntled customers

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It’s needless to say, but the internet service in the Philippines leaves a lot to be desired. Not only have hard numbers shown poor internet performance in the archipelago, social media has been seeing a never-ending eruption of complaints about every provider, as well.

While steps have been taken to bring the Philippines up to speed with other countries through the use of next-generation 5G mobile networks by next year, citizens aren’t convinced, and internet in the country is still facing a slippery slope.

One incident that has been affecting local provider PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company), in particular, is causing a lot of turbulence to both its workers and customers.

Reports have circulated that PLDT had recently terminated over 7,000 contracts from its workforce, causing many homes and offices with internet problems to be put on an indefinite hold. PLDT denied the allegations, citing that the DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) was the one that ordered these contractual workers to halt their service to the company.

DOLE fired back by stating that PLDT’s workers are “employed by unqualified service providers” and PLDT has been warned months in advance. At the same time, disgruntled PLDT employees took to the streets in a recent protest.

Whatever the case, these employees aren’t the only victims here, as customers are experiencing the harsh aftereffects, too.

My own team has been a victim of this ongoing debacle. After having absolutely no Fiber connection for nearly two months, it was only yesterday when our situation was dealt with and a service crew paid a visit to our home office to bring our internet back.

This came after we had to sit through hours and hours of being put on hold by PLDT’s customer service. We simply wanted to know what was wrong and when we’d get our connection back; all we were told was that they’ll look into it, but nothing came of it until someone finally arrived yesterday. They have yet to offer any rebate for the weeks of service loss.

A friend of mine has been on PLDT’s hotline for over a month now, trying to figure out why his DSL speeds are way, way below the advertised 5Mbps. “When I’m lucky, it becomes as fast as 1Mbps, but I usually deal with speeds of around 0.1Mbps,” Mr. Iglesias told me in a chat. “Whenever I’d call the hotline to complain, I’m either put on hold for an hour or get no response at all.”

A PLDT customer who requested to be kept anonymous mentioned that his service “truly sucks” after the first 12 months of his 24-month contract were completed. “With regards to our internet, there are times we have no connection even though the LEDs of our modem are lit up,” he said. “We were requested to wait for seven to 30 minutes maximum just so we can speak to a ‘live’ agent and not an answering machine. Worse, from last night until now, our landline has no dial tone so we cannot call their hotline to report.”

Another source who works for PLDT (and also wishes to remain anonymous) was given an instant promotion to manager when most of her team was laid off at the end of June. “I had no choice. Now I’m handling all the customer complaints on my own,” she said.

And these are just a handful of cases. Social media is littered with angry posts about PLDT’s unsatisfactory — and sometimes non-existent — service.

Wanting to dig deeper, I reached out to Ramon Isberto, Head of Public Affairs at PLDT, for answers.

Isberto explains that the DOLE’s order to regularize these 7,300 workers is “inconsistent with applicable law, jurisprudence, and the documentary and testimonial evidence.” And even though PLDT was issued a cease and desist order, call center and BPO companies have been exempted from similar regulations related to the coverage of labor contracting restrictions.

Referencing to allegations that PLDT terminated thousands of contracts, Isberto reassures that “it simply does not make any sense for PLDT to terminate these contracts in this way.”

Finally, he says that they’re taking care of everyone’s welfare and the “duty to deliver quality services to customers.” That last bit is what I’m least confident about.

PLDT’s Twitter handle is “PLDT_Cares” and while they do care a whole lot about becoming the country’s go-to source for everything internet, I wonder what’s being done to take care of the ever-increasing number of complaints being filed each day.

We currently have this to hold on to.

Not much, but it’s all we have.

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Features

This is the history of basketball videogames since the ’73 Knicks

Did you know that the first basketball videogame was invented in 1973?

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June 15, 2026

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Knicks fans, rejoice; your long, long wait is finally over! The New York Knicks are once again the NBA Champions. As you’ve probably heard so many times by now, the last time that New York’s own was on top of the basketball pyramid was in 1973, 53 years ago.

Here’s a fun fact that you might not know, though: The last Knicks championship is tied to the history of the basketball in videogames. Did you know that the very first basketball video game was invented in 1973, the exact same year that the Knicks won their last championship?

But, of course, a lot of things have happened since then, and a lot of videogames have come and gone. Here are the most notable basketball games you might have played (or missed playing) in history:

NBA 2K

It would be pointless to start a list of basketball games without stating the obvious first. The NBA 2K series is the quintessential hooper sim today. When you think of the sport in videogames today, you can’t spend two seconds without thinking of the long-running franchise.

NBA 2K26

Now an annually releasing series, NBA 2K started in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast. At the time, it was just another drop in a sea of ‘90s basketball games. Now, it’s an institution with constantly updating graphics and mechanics.

NBA Live

Around the time that NBA 2K first started, NBA Live was the king of the jungle. Up until 2018, it was another annually releasing series going alongside (and against) the behemoth known as 2K.

But it’s had a storied history as well. It started off as the NBA Playoffs series. The first one, 1989’s Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs, featured eight teams who were part of that year’s playoffs. This went on until 1993 when it evolved into NBA Showdown, one of the first games to feature every NBA team. In 1994, Showdown reinvented itself once again into NBA Live and turned into an annual series before its unfortunate cancellation in 2018.

NBA Street

If sports simulators aren’t your thing, NBA Street is an arcade-style series that has ups the fun with trick shots and streetball rules. It features three-on-three hooping with 29 teams and 5 players from each. Whereas NBA 2K and NBA Live helped gamers live out their dreams to become an NBA superstar, NBA Street was one for the gamers who just wanted a fun time.

The series spawned a few sequels since 2001 but eventually met its end in 2007. Now, however, you can continue the legacy in the recently launched NBA the Run, a spiritual successor created by developers of the original NBA Street games.

NBA Jam

“Boomshakalaka! He’s on fire!”

Even if you’ve never played NBA Jam before, you’ve probably heard its most iconic catchphrase. NBA Jam was so influential that it’s considered one of the most important games of the SNES and the arcade cabinet generation.

Besides impressive graphics for its time, it was a spectacle. Because it had no fouling system, you can physically bully people out of your way. You can catch fire if you’re too good at shooting, hence the “he’s on fire” line. You can jump to gravity-defying heights to make a dunk. Plus, the game features so many fun Easter eggs, including one that turns you into a literal tank on the court.

Double Dribble

Technically a sequel to Konami’s Super Basketball, 1986’s Double Dribble was a fairly straightforward simulator that attempted to feature realistic gameplay in a very two-dimensional time. For its time, the game was remarkable because it featured highly detailed animations for fancy moves like slam dunks.

However, the game came out before the rise of the NBA’s massive popularity in media. It doesn’t have a license to feature actual teams or players. Then again, haven’t you heard of the Boston Frogs or the New York Eagles?

One on One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird

Contrasted to the above’s five-versus-five or three-versus-three formats, 1983’s One on One featured, as the title says, a mano-a-mano duel between Julius Erving and Larry Bird. With an isometric half-court layout, either player takes turns dunking or shooting over the other.

While one-versus-one modes are available in today’s games, One on One let players live out their fantasies as two of the biggest basketball stars at the time. It even let you shatter the backboard Though the game isn’t much of a talking point nowadays, it was so popular for its time that it helped establish Electronic Arts as a household name in gaming.

Atari’s Basketball

As the father of modern basketball games, 1978’s Basketball, built for the Atari, was the first game to feature the full-court format so popular today. Like One on One, Basketball features only two players. The game was so rudimentary that the two hoops were represented with two sticks, and the two players were different colored blobs.

However, in 1979, Atari released an updated version with detailed graphics. It was also controlled with a trackball, the first of its kind to do so. Though it didn’t have named superstars or teams, it’s clearly the predecessor of the games we all know and love.

Basketball!

And now, we’ve come to the beginning. Released on 1973, Basketball! is officially the first basketball video game in history. Since it’s on the Magnavox Odyssey, the very first home gaming console, that comes as no surprise.

Like Pong, which also found a home in the Magnavox Odyssey, Basketball! features two square dots (the players) bouncing a smaller dot (the ball) into two “hoops” on both sides of a court. The game had a static image laid over the dots to simulate an ongoing basketball game. It was so basic that it didn’t even have a computing system for point. Players had to manually tally scores on their own based on where the small dot lands.

If it’s hard for you to imagine just how long today’s Knicks fans have waited for a championship, this was the state of gaming when they got their last ring.

SEE ALSO: NBA 2K26 review: Pick and pop maestro

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Cameras

What HYROX Hong Kong looks like up close

Photographed on the Canon EOS R6 Mark III.

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June 11, 2026

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HYROX drew people from all over the world for a single purpose: finish the course. In Hong Kong, athletes showed up at AsiaWorld-Expo ready to run, row, and push through 8 stations of pure functional fitness.

So, we brought the Canon EOS R6 Mark III to capture one of the most demanding fitness races on the planet.

The Expo floor is a lighting nightmare, a mix of harsh overheads and deep shadows, but the 32.5MP sensor handled the contrast without breaking a sweat.

The 40fps electronic shutter and Pre-continuous shooting meant we were already capturing the moment half a second before we consciously decided to press the shutter.

Covering a race means staying mobile, and the 8.5-stop IBIS let us move freely alongside athletes without losing the shot. The Dual Pixel CMOS AF II stayed locked on athletes even when they were squinting through the final stretch.

What came out were stories of triumph and determination. Even when their bodies were screaming, they pushed through anyway.

This is what HYROX Hong Kong looked like from the inside.

Words by MJ Jucutan. Photos by Sky Rodillas.

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Buyer's Guide

Buyer’s Guide: Xiaomi Pad 8 Series

Do you need the base or the Pro?

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June 8, 2026

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Choosing between the Xiaomi Pad 8 and the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro feels like picking between a “sweet treat” and a “full-course meal.”

It’s deciding between a reliable travel companion and a specialized workstation. Both tablets rock a slim 5.8mm profile and a manageable 485-gram weight, and a 9200mAh battery.

However, under the hood, they are playing in different leagues. Especially since the “Pro” moniker adds serious muscle to the internals, and a solution for that glossy screen distraction.

Specs at a glance

Product Xiaomi Pad 8 Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro
Processor Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 (4nm) Snapdragon 8 Elite (3nm)
Display 11.2″ 3.2K IPS LCD (144Hz) 11.2″ 3.2K IPS LCD (144Hz)
Surface Ultra-Glossy Glass Optional Matte Nano-Texture
Storage/RAM Up to 12GB LPDDR5X / 256GB Up to 16GB LPDDR5T / 512GB
Rear Camera 13MP 50MP
Front Camera 8MP 32MP
Charging 45W Turbo Charge 67W HyperCharge
Pricing Starts at PhP 20,999 Starts at PhP 38,999

Why you should pick the Xiaomi Pad 8

The standard Pad 8 is that “Goldilocks” device, hitting that sweet spot between price and premium hardware.

It’s ideal if your tablet usage is centered on media consumption and light productivity. Since it shares the same 11.2-inch screen size as the Pro, it fits perfectly on an airplane tray table, making it a dream for frequent flyers.

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is no slouch; it still runs titles like Racing Master at 60fps on Ultra-High settings. If you’re a fan of XG or KiiiKiii, you’ll appreciate the quad-speaker setup and Hi-Res Audio support without needing to pay the “Pro” tax.

It’s the smart choice for those who want a capable second screen to complement their main laptop.

Why you should level up to the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro

The “Pro” is for those who found the standard model’s limitations — like the glossy screen reflections or the 128GB storage ceiling — to be a dealbreaker.

The biggest upgrade is the Snapdragon 8 Elite, a powerhouse chip that turns the tablet into a legitimate workstation for video editing in CapCut or heavy multitasking in HyperOS 3.0.

Beyond power, the Pro version offers a Matte Glass Edition, which completely solves the “reflection” issue that can ruin your movie sessions or drawing time under bright lights.

You also get significantly better cameras, such as a 32-megapixel front sensor for professional-looking video calls. There’s also a 50-megapixel rear camera for high-res document scanning.

Finally, the 67W HyperCharge means you spend less time tethered to a wall and more time being productive.

Which Xiaomi Pad is your GadgetMatch?

Swipe Right on the Xiaomi Pad 8 if you want the best value for your money.

It’s thin, light, and powerful enough for 90% of users. It handles gaming, writing, and music playback with ease, making it a worthy recipient of a seal of approval for anyone on a budget.

Just be sure to skip the 128GB entry model and go for the 256GB version to ensure you get those faster storage speeds.

Swipe Right on the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro if you are a “power user” who hates screen glare. If you plan to use the Focus Pen Pro for serious creative work or need 512GB of space for a massive game library, the Pro is worth the extra investment.

It’s a high-speed machine that charges faster, captures better photos, and runs every app with flagship-level fluidness.

The Xiaomi Pad 8 starts at PhP 20,999 with Normal Keyboard while the Xiaomi Pad 8 Pro starts at PhP 38,999 with Touch Keyboard. Both tablets come with free Focus Pen Pro.

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