Janette Toral

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Janette Toral
Nationality Filipino
Occupation(s) Trainer, writer, SEO consultant, blogger, lobbyist, and entrepreneur.
Notable workBlogging from Home, DigitalFilipino.com E-Commerce Workshop E-Book, DigitalFilipino: An E-Commerce Guide for the eFilipino
Website

Janette Toral is a Filipino practicing e-commerce, social media, and Internet marketing specialist. She is also a facilitator, blogger, lobbyist, business and social entrepreneur, educator, researcher, writer, ambassador, community leader, and business leader. She has been dubbed as the "mother of e-commerce law in the Philippines". [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Advocacy

Toral is an active volunteer working on the Philippines E-Commerce Roadmap (2016 to 2020), actively presenting it in various local and international fora for various stakeholder consultation initiatives. [4] [5] [6] Toral was one of the plaintiffs in the 2014 landmark case Disini v. Secretary of Justice . [7]

Business interests

Toral founded the Philippine Internet Commerce Society in 1997. She lobbied for the Y2K Law and E-Commerce Law which were eventually passed in the year 2000, making it easier for companies in the Philippines to do online businesses globally. [8]

Toral's personal website, DigitalFilipino.com, was founded in September 1999, to promote her e-commerce book and Philippine internet documentary. [9]

She started the DigitalFilipino Club in 2003, also to promote her second e-commerce book and Philippine internet documentary. [10]

In 2006, Toral created the DigitalFilipino.com Podcast, co produced with Pocholo Gonzales of Creative Voices Productions, which had 13 episodes. [11]

In 2007 she launched the DigitalFilipino Web Awards, which, with different categories, is given yearly to the best Filipino websites. [12]

Since 2003 Toral has also been writing a weekly business column for Sun.Star Cebu . [13]

Since 2002 she has been campaigning for the application of capability maturity model integration (CMMI) in the Philippines, which would ensure higher-quality software development in the country and make the Philippines compete effectively in the international market. Toral's goal of making the country dependent on its own CMMI trainers and assessors has still to be realized. [14]

Writings

The DigitalFilipino Stats Report

Toral first published the Digital Filipino Stat report in 2002. The issues spoke about the importance of IT to users.

The third of a series of regular survey results of DigitalFilipino in 2002 shows that the internet has grown in importance to users. Internet users in the Philippines seem to have shifted from toy and communication services to research and business tools. The survey allows entrepreneurs to make more important decisions in their strategies and operations on the services offered. [15]

Over 40% of those surveyed said that the internet was used basically for research. Twenty percent said that email was the main reason for using the internet. Sixty percent were accessing the internet in their place of work, and were not limited to big companies alone but had spread to small and medium enterprises. All these users were also shopping online. This issue is concerned mainly with the use of the internet and shopping behavior online. [15]

The second issue speaks of mobile phone users in the Philippines, which is considered as a wireless champion due to the acceptance of users in the short messaging service (SMS). Almost 17% of Filipinos have prepaid or postpaid subscriptions to mobile services. Telecom providers all over Asia have used the Philippines as a model in the development of added services on SMS usage. [16]

The fourth issue talks about the latest in e-services. According to Toral's latest survey in 2003, Secretary Manuel Roxas had been the best evangelist in promoting the outsourcing industry, referring to e-services like contact centers and medical transcriptions. According to the stats report, 21% of those surveyed were satisfied with the support that the government was giving the e-service industry. They were also satisfied with the efforts given to improve the quality of education and skilled workers, the opening of IT parks, and with the incentives provided for related campaigns on IT. [17]

Another issue of the 2003 DigitalFilipino Stats Report, entitled "The Filipino Internet banker," states that more than half a million Filipinos would regularly bank online. Convenience, time, and resource saving were the principal factors for using online banking services, which included inquiries on accounts, transfer of funds, and payment of bills. Most internet users banking online were young, 68% being males. Internet banking has become an effective tool in acquiring clients who are ready to spend money. [18]

Other writings and publications

YearPublishing
2009Blogging from Home [19] (speaks of blogging trend in the Philippines. The blogging community has grown, the blog contents are cause-oriented, and the people can find information here where they can't get anywhere else) [20]
September 2004Editor of the Philippine Internet Review project documenting 10 years of the Internet in the Philippines
May 2004Published the DigitalFilipino.com E-Commerce Workshop E-Book printed edition through McGraw-Hill Education Asia.
June 2002Published the 1st IT-focused Statistics publication with DigitalFilipino StatsReport
2000"The Electronic Commerce Act and Its Implementing Rules and Regulations Annotations" [21]
June 2000"The DigitalFilipino: An E-Commerce Guide for the eFilipino" [22]
September 1999Published the 1st E-Commerce research website in the Philippines with DigitalFilipino.com

Awards

2011Recognized as a promising woman leader in entrepreneurship and technology (US Embassy)Toral was sent to the US as part of the professional exchange program, International Visitors Leadership Program, by the US State Department, which was hosted by the World Affairs Council of Seattle. [8]
March 5, 2010Champion of Philippine Internet and E-Commerce Hall of Fame AwardGiven by Asian Institute of E-Commerce:“for offering all her life towards the advancement of E-Commerce and Digital Media education and policy improvement in the Philippines”. [23]
October 2009Digital Elder [24] Special award given by Globe-2009 Philippine Blog Awards [25]
February 2008E-Services Awards 2008 – Policy and Legal Category [26] This award recognizes personalities or organizations whose ideas, talent, and commitment have contributed significantly to Philippine ICT development and/or whose passion and dedication have helped raise the bar of excellence in the Philippines' e-Services industry.It also aims to promote and propagate good practices and outstanding contributions and inspire others to replicate achievements of the awardees. [27]
November 2004International Schools Cyberfair Ambassador Award 2004
May 2002International Schools Cyberfair Ambassador Award 2002given by the Global SchoolHouse in recognition for her efforts in organizing Cyberfair [28] in the Philippines.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet</span> Global system of connected computer networks

The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services, such as the interlinked hypertext documents and applications of the World Wide Web (WWW), electronic mail, telephony, and file sharing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of the Philippines</span> National economy of the Philippines

The economy of the Philippines is an emerging market, a newly industrialized country and one of the most dynamic in the Asia-Pacific region. As a developing economy, the country is working towards achieving greater industrialization and economic growth. In 2023, the Philippine economy is estimated to be at ₱24.27 trillion, making it the world's 34th largest by nominal GDP and 14th largest in Asia according to the International Monetary Fund.

Telecommunications in the Philippines are well-developed due to the presence of modern infrastructure facilities. The industry was deregulated in 1995 when President Fidel Ramos signed Republic Act No. 7925. This law opened the sector to more private players and improved the provision of telecom services are better and fairer rates, leading to the creation of many telecommunication service providers for mobile, fixed-line, Internet and other services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.ph</span> Internet country code top-level domain for the Philippines

.ph is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Philippines.

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process level improvement training and appraisal program. Administered by the CMMI Institute, a subsidiary of ISACA, it was developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). It is required by many U.S. Government contracts, especially in software development. CMU claims CMMI can be used to guide process improvement across a project, division, or an entire organization. CMMI defines the following maturity levels for processes: Initial, Managed, Defined, Quantitatively Managed, and Optimizing. Version 2.0 was published in 2018. CMMI is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by CMU.

Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of digital media content such as audio, video, e-books, video games, and other software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bataan Nuclear Power Plant</span> Nuclear power plant in the Philippines

The Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) is a nuclear power plant on the Bataan Peninsula, 100 kilometres (62 mi) west of Manila, Philippines. Completed but never fueled, it is located on a 3.57 km2 (1.38 sq mi) government reservation at Napot Point in Morong, Bataan. It was the Philippines' only attempt at building a nuclear power plant. It was mothballed due to safety concerns in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986 and issues regarding corruption. The Letter of Instruction No. 957, s. 1979 was signed by the late President Ferdinand Marcos and was published on November 13, 1979, in which it states that the continuation of the construction was not possible due to potential hazards to the health and safety of the public; however, the Marcos administration eventually supported the project.

Chikka, short for Chikka Text Messenger, was an Internet-based instant messaging application that supported free SMS or text messaging between online users and offline mobile subscribers. Chikka was released by Chikka Philippines, Inc. in the early 2000 and eventually established its connection with the country's network operators Smart Communications (2001), Globe Telecom (2002) and Sun Cellular (2004). With up to billions of messages being exchanged between online and mobile communities worldwide through Chikka, it is probably the world's first commercially successful integration of web and mobile utilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet in the Philippines</span> Overview of the Internet in the Philippines

Internet in the Philippines first became available on March 29, 1994, 10:18 a.m., with the Philippine Network Foundation (PHNet) connecting the country and its people to Sprint in the United States via a 64 kbit/s link. As of February 2023, there are 85.16 million internet users in the country, where internet penetration stood at 73.1% of the total population.

The Internet in Pakistan has been available since the early 1990s. Pakistan has about 124 million internet users, making it the 7th-largest population of internet users in the world. Information and communications technology (ICT) is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. In 2001 just 1.3% of the population used the Internet. By 2006 this figure had grown to 6.5% and in 2012 to 10.0%. As of July 2021; the percentage of internet users in Pakistan is 54%, which translates into approximately 118 million citizens having access to internet. Inadequate infrastructure is adversely impacting Internet speeds, encompassing technology, available backhaul, and international Internet bandwidth. This is the primary reason why Pakistan's Internet speed lags behind that of neighboring countries and even some less developed nations worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GMA New Media</span> Digital media division of GMA Network

GMA New Media, Inc. is the digital media and technology arm of GMA Network Inc. which offers interactive applications in the television, mobile, web, marketing and online gaming industry, and produces video and livestream content for social media. Its headquarters are located at the GMA Network Center in Quezon City, Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tor (network)</span> Free and open-source anonymity network based on onion routing

Tor, short for The Onion Router, is free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication. It directs Internet traffic via a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network that consists of more than seven thousand relays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reksoft</span>

Reksoft is an offshore software engineering company specialising in software development and system integration services, specifically software product engineering, enterprise application services and dedicated centres. Reksoft has passed certification audit ISO 9001:2008, and is assessed to comply with CMMi Level 5. The company is based in St. Petersburg, Russia, and has regional offices in Stockholm, Sweden, and development centres in Moscow and Voronezh, Russia.

<i>ClickTheCity.com</i>

ClickTheCity is an entertainment and lifestyle guide website in the Philippines. It provides a companion mobile application.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012</span> Law in the Philippines

The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, officially recorded as Republic Act No. 10175, is a law in the Philippines that was approved on September 12, 2012. It aims to address legal issues concerning online interactions and the Internet in the Philippines. Among the cybercrime offenses included in the bill are cybersquatting, cybersex, child pornography, identity theft, illegal access to data and libel.

E-commerce or electric commerce in Southeast Asia is the buying and selling of products and services over the internet in the countries of Southeast Asia. These practices reached Southeast Asia during the dot-com mania in the 1990s. After the dot-com bust, local e-companies have seen promising growth in this sector.

News.ABS-CBN.com is a news website based in Quezon City, Philippines. It is owned by the media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corporation and it is predominantly targeted to the Filipino market. The website is maintained by the ABS-CBN Digital Media division of ABS-CBN while its contents are provided by ABS-CBN News and The Philippine Star. Aside from the website interface, users can also access its contents through its mobile app available in both iOS, android and Windows. The ABS-CBNnews.com app is also available on LG Smart TV. Although the domain address of the website was absorbed to the ABS-CBN.com website, it still retains the original logo. On the other hand, the old url redirects the user to the current domain.

In the Philippines, censorship involves the control of certain information.

<i>Disini v. Secretary of Justice</i> Landmark ruling of the Supreme Court of the Philippines

Disini v. Secretary of Justice is a landmark ruling of the Supreme Court of the Philippines handed down on February 18, 2014. When the Congress of the Philippines passed the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 the bill was immediately controversial, especially its strict penalties for the new crime of "cyberlibel", an upgraded form of the already existing criminal libel charge found in the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GMA Affordabox</span> Philippine digital set-top box

GMA Affordabox is a Philippine ISDB-Tb digital terrestrial television provider distributed and being marketed by GMA New Media, a subsidiary of GMA Network, Inc. The service distributes digital set-top boxes and USB OTG dongles with free-to-air digital TV channels, broadcast markup language, emergency warning broadcast system, functional auto-on alert, digital display, and info display services to select areas in the Philippines.

References

  1. ↑ "APEC Event Showcases Women Innovators" . Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Mother of e-commerce". BusinessWorld. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  3. ↑ "Policy Development" . Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  4. ↑ "DTI supports E-commerce Show Philippines 2018". Archived from the original on April 28, 2018. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
  5. ↑ "DTI holds reg'l. consultative meeting on Phil. E-Commerce Roadmap 2015-2020" . Retrieved September 13, 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. ↑ "Forging ahead for the crafting of an e-commerce roadmap" . Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  7. ↑ Jose Jesus M. Disini, Jr., et al. v. Secretary of Justice, et al., G.R. No. 203335(Supreme Court of the PhilippinesFebruary 11, 2014). Text
  8. 1 2 "Guiding Filipinos in the Online Market". September 1, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  9. ↑ "DigitaFilipino Yahoo Groups" . Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  10. ↑ "DigitaFilipino.com" . Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Filipina podcast goes high gear". Manila Bulletin . Retrieved January 23, 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  12. ↑ "Meet Janette Toral, marketing blogger in the Philippines" . Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Janette Toral- Sun Star Cebu". SunStar . Archived from the original on March 11, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  14. ↑ "Betting on E-Commerce" . Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  15. 1 2 "The DigitalFilipino Stats Report- Filipino Internet User Report". Archived from the original on June 2, 2009. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  16. ↑ "The DigitalFilipino Stats Report- Filipino Mobile Phone User Report". Archived from the original on October 13, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  17. ↑ "The DigitalFilipino Stats Report- Philippine Outsourcing Industry Report". Archived from the original on October 13, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  18. ↑ "The DigitalFilipino Stats Report- Filipino Internet Banker Report". Archived from the original on October 13, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Blogging from Home" . Retrieved February 3, 2011.
  20. ↑ "Filipino author shows how to blog from home". Archived from the original on June 26, 2012. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  21. ↑ "The Electronic Commerce Act and Its Implementing Rules and Regulations Annotations" . Retrieved October 1, 2023.
  22. ↑ "The DigitalFilipino: An E-Commerce Guide for the eFilipino" . Retrieved February 3, 2011.
  23. ↑ "JANETTE TORAL: Recipient of the First Champion of Philippine Internet and E-Commerce Hall of Fame Award at the BLOGWORLD PHILIPPINES 2010". The Social Thinkers.com. March 8, 2009. Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  24. ↑ "Digital Elder Award". December 20, 2009. Archived from the original on July 31, 2011. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  25. ↑ "2009 Philippine Blog Awards winners". October 10, 2009. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  26. ↑ "Winners: E-Services Awards 2008". Philippines Outsourcing Review. February 13, 2008. Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  27. ↑ "E Champion Awardee 2008". YouTube . Retrieved February 4, 2011.
  28. ↑ "Cyberfair" . Retrieved February 3, 2011.
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