👋 Hey there! I'm TJ. I write about data products, technology, software, and economics.
I'm a husband and father, living in Singapore, and from the Philippines. I explore data engineering and accounting at Titanium Birch.
On the Filipino Migration and Remittances: The grass is still greener on the other side
The Filipino diaspora has been a relatively well-documented phenomenon, as poor circumstances in the domestic economy nudge others to seek greener pastures abroad. But where exactly do these people go, and how have the trends changed since 1990? Also, are there any people coming in to the country? Let’s take a look at the data.
LEAVING ON A JET PLANE. Where do these Filipino migrants go, and which nationalities migrate into the Philippines? In this photo, a migrant worker from Bangladesh, a country which faces similar economic circumstances as the Philippines, awaits his flight. (Photo: Faisal Akram/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Economic circumstances and an oversupply of labor in the domestic market have caused what some people have called the Filipino diaspora - a large outflow of migrant workers and overseas contract workers seeking better jobs - and pay - abroad.
On Inflation and Poverty: It's getting more expensive to be poor
On What It Means to Be Filipino
Culture has always been tricky to measure, but by asking the right questions we can get a grasp of how Filipinos think. In this photo, hot ai’r balloons fly at the 16th International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Subic, Philippines. (Photo: Lady May Pamintuan/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)
What’s important in life? What do you want in a job? Is suicide justifiable? Would you want a drug addict as a neighbor? How many children would you like to have? Do you have confidence in the church? Find out how Filipinos responded to these types of questions using data from the World Values Survey.
On Delays and Dropouts: A Data Primer on Education
A data-driven look at education reveals large and increasing disparities between regions and gender in terms of enrollment, and also a bleak compensation package for teachers. (Photo: Sean MacEntee/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
How does the Philippine education system look like through numbers? With new data from the Department of Education posted on the wonderful data.gov.ph, we can generate some interesting snapshots that allow us to assess how the country is doing at teaching future generations.
On Fraud and Fake Ballots: Detecting election fraud through data
BALLOT BOXES - Data can be used to safeguard ballot integrity, especially in a time of electronic transmission and canvassing of voting information. In this photo, ballot boxes are prepared for use in the 2007 Davao barangay elections. (Photo: Keith Bacongco/Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
Election fraud in the Philippines is almost always alleged, but never really proven. We can explore an approach that can identify voting data patterns those most likely to be associated with vote padding - adding fake ballots - and find out how the sanctity of the ballot can be preserved by the thoughtful use of election data.
On Using Data to Choose your Next Vacation Destination
TRAVEL OFTEN - Data from the OpenFlights database can show you all the destinations available for your travelling pleasure. (Photo: Pixabay, public domain)
Are you having trouble making vacation plans? Well, the first step to planning any trip would be to decide on a destination, whether it be domestic or international. However, there isn’t an easy way to take a look at all your alternatives: what are the destinations to which the Philippines has direct flights?
Luckily, data from the OpenFlights database is available, listing a wide variety of air travel routes around the world, the Philippines included. We can use it to construct a data visualization called a circular dendrogram. All the direct routes from the Philippines can be laid out in an orderly, easily explorable manner.
On the Probability of Mortality
RISKY OR BENIGN? The fear of flying is one of the most common statistically irrational fears that people have. (Photo: Kuster & Wildhaber Photography/Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0)
Everything carries a risk, and nothing has preoccupied the human mind more than the risk of death. What are the safest (and most dangerous) modes of transportation? What activities commonly regarded as risky, really are? Let’s find out.